Columbia-Greene Community College operating budget approved; LPN program, simulation center highlighted

Victoria Welsh, president of Columbia-Greene Community College, and Amanda Bishop, the college chief financial officer, presented the college’s 2025–26 operating budget and program updates to the Greene County Legislature; the legislature voted to adopt the operating budget during the meeting.

President Welsh said the college will launch a licensed practical nurse (LPN) program in spring 2026 with an anticipated 20–30 seats and plans to expand its RN program to 75 seats by fall 2026. She said the college is completing a nursing simulation center funded with nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in SUNY funding; the center will support nursing and allied-health training and staff invited legislators to visit once it opens.

CFO Amanda Bishop reviewed key budget assumptions: tuition rates will remain flat for 2025–26; the college projects an 8% decline in total tuition revenue compared with the 2024–25 budget driven largely by volatility in the prison-education program; continuing-education revenue is budgeted flat at about $200,000; and technology fees were increased from $180 to $300 per student after a peer review of other SUNY community colleges. Bishop said sponsor-contribution levels from the counties remain unchanged based on recent enrollment averages: Columbia County reported 604 students last year (three-year average 588) and Greene County reported 502 students last year (three-year average 528).

Bishop said the college will use increased foundation support this year (listed in the materials as $820,000) to help bridge operating needs and expects to manage a high-needs SUNY grant (about $1.5 million) that would yield indirect-cost recovery (noted at about $106,000) to the college. Compensation assumptions in the budget include a $2,000 annual increase for faculty and a $1.10 hourly increase for staff; benefits were projected to increase approximately 12%.

The legislature voted to adopt the 2025–26 operating budget for Columbia-Greene Community College during the session. Other college-related agenda items approved in the same meeting included an agreement between Greene County and the Columbia-Greene Community College Foundation and authorization of related payments listed on the agenda.

The presenters described workforce and program development priorities—health professions growth, virtual-reality instructional tools, SUNY Reconnect enrollment efforts for adults 25–55 and expanding noncredit workforce programming—and asked the legislature for continued county support for the college’s operations and programs.