Community colleges freeze tuition for second year

The state's community colleges are freezing tuition for in-state students for the second year in a row, according to an announcement Friday by Gov. Jay Nixon.

Under the agreement with the governor's office, state community colleges, which are members of the Missouri Community College Association, will not impose a tuition increase on in-state students for the 2010-2011 school year.

In exchange, Nixon's office agrees to maintain higher education funding at 95 percent of the current fiscal year appropriation. Ozarks Technical Community College has been appropriated about $11.7 million in state funding for fiscal 2010.

The agreement is subject to approval by the schools' governing bodies and the General Assembly.

Before freezing tuition last year, tuition at the schools had been increasing by an average of 7.5 percent a year for the last decade.

"To turn this economy around, Missourians must be trained, educated and ready to work, and that's why it was vital that we kept tuition flat for Missouri families," Nixon said in a news release. "By helping keep higher education affordable, we are taking bold steps to prepare the work force that will move Missouri forward."

The tuition freeze comes just days after a similar agreement was announced with the state's public four-year institutions.