Northeastern Technical College president details funding, facilities needs and asks Chesterfield County to cover $15 per-credit subsidy

Northeastern Technical College President Dr. Wagner told the Chesterfield County Finance Committee on Aug. 18 that the college's finances rely on a mix of state appropriations, federal grants, tuition and local millage and that a recent change in how millage is passed through required the college to create a $15-per-credit-hour unsubsidized tuition rate for students from county service areas.

He told the committee the $15 rate was implemented after the college reviewed state rules and its own accounting and that the college can restore the in-county $15 offset for students if Chesterfield County commits the roughly $207,000 the college estimates would cover last year's enrollment shortfall. "If Chesterfield County would commit to paying that $207,000 I can then go in and award a $15 scholarship for every student to reflect that $15 to reduce that tuition back down," Dr. Wagner said.

The request came during a nearly two-hour presentation and question-and-answer session in which Dr. Wagner described three primary funding streams: state operations (about 5% of the state's technical college appropriation that the college receives), maintenance and capital project requests submitted to the state, and federal grant funding. He said the college's state operations funding has grown from roughly $2 million per year to about $5 million (he described these as estimates and offered to provide exact figures). He also said the college has a $2 million federal grant request pending in Washington for equipment and upgrades across the Sherrill, Marlborough and Dillon campuses.

Wagner outlined campus maintenance and capital needs. He said utilities for the two Chesterfield-area campuses totaled about $325,000 in the most recent fiscal accounting and that major deferred items include multiple roofs, aged chillers and an enlarged storm-drain problem at the Sherrill campus that has required engineering studies. He described an underway project to install a central boiler-chiller plant intended to reduce energy costs and allow future consolidation of mechanical systems; unexpected rises in the campus water table required switching from galvanized piping to a more expensive plastic insulated piping, increasing project costs.

On specific requests, Wagner said the Pageland campus has a $1.2 million request that would buy equipment and perimeter fencing to expand welding, machine tool and CNC training to meet local employer demand. He said the college also is pursuing a new MACB campus to serve heavy-equipment training, citing an estimated 1,200 jobs within 20 minutes of the proposed site.

Committee members and county attendees repeatedly pressed for clarity about the $15 tuition distinction and its timing. A committee member noted an online tuition schedule that appeared to predate July 1; Wagner said the board approved the rate earlier but the increase did not take effect until July 1 and that the college posted the updated schedule as required. "We posted it, but it did not take effect until July 1," Dr. Wagner said. He also explained categories of fees and how state lottery and other aid (which he said has fluctuated) affect net student costs.

The college's recent review by the State Inspector General (SIG) was addressed at length. Dr. Wagner said the SIG review (which covered roughly 2018 through February 2023, including COVID years) found no criminal or fraudulent activity in documents the SIG examined. He said COVID-era flexibility complicated enrollment administration and that the college had instituted multiple contact points to verify student participation before census dates. "There was no finding of ghost students if you read the report correctly," Wagner said, describing outreach and census procedures.

Darren Coleman, who identified himself as a Chesterfield County resident and a member of the Chesterfield County School Board (District 2), defended the college's use of funds while acknowledging turnover in the college business office. Coleman told the committee the college had six chief financial officers since 2018 but said state and federal funds continued to flow and that audits did not identify criminal mishandling. "When you have that much turnover in an office that runs finances, we're going to see all types of red flags," Coleman said, but he added that the issues identified were administrative and not criminal.

Multiple residents raised concerns about oversight and questioned whether returning local millage to the college would be appropriate. Richard Zuntine of the Mingendorf area urged the county not to return to the previous tax pass-through model and highlighted the SIG report's findings of fiscal irregularities described in the report. "I am against returning to tax citizens for the operations of NETC. In one word, it's because of accountability," Zuntine said, citing the report's summary of questioned expenditures and concerns about dual-enrollment processing.

Wagner and Coleman responded to questions about dual enrollment, remediation and continuing-education sponsorships. Wagner said dual-enrollment and continuing-education offerings require sponsors or specific funding mechanisms; where a sponsor was not available in earlier years, the college offered some courses for credit so students could access financial aid. He explained the state's SC WINS and lottery programs and cautioned that some funding options are limited in duration or amount.

Committee procedure: the finance committee adopted its agenda and approved minutes from its May 7 meeting at the start of the session. Later in the meeting the committee voted to allow a public speaker five minutes during the session; Richard Zuntine used that time to address the committee. All recorded committee procedural motions in this session carried on voice votes.

The committee thanked Wagner for the presentation and agreed to share the materials with the full council. Wagner said the $15 per-credit distinction could still be reversed for students if the county made the commitment the college requested. The committee did not make a formal decision on funding during the meeting.

Ending note: Dr. Wagner said audited fiscal-year numbers will be posted in October and offered to provide exact state-appropriation figures and other supporting documents to any county members who request them.