By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Gateway Community and Technical College announced Tuesday that its board of directors approved an $8.7 million budget for next fiscal year, but there is no money to open the new Boone County campus, which is under construction and scheduled to open in spring 2005.

The school also has no money to hire the new faculty and staff it needs.

"There is a likelihood that for the first time we will have to cap classes and delay student enrollment," said President and CEO Edward Hughes.

Gateway offers educational opportunities to about 3,000 students in 35 program areas on three Northern Kentucky campuses: Covington, Edgewood and Highland Heights.

The board's budget recommendation will be sent to the Kentucky Community and Technical College System Board of Regents, which approves spending plans for the state's 16 community colleges.

But school officials say that, without more money, Gateway won't have the basic infrastructure to fulfill its mission at a time when Northern Kentucky companies are clamoring for educated workers.

"Our estimate is that Gateway is still $2 million below what it needs to adequately meet its mission to serve the 3,000 students we currently have," Hughes said.

"The continued lack of funding from the state will eventually hinder the full development of the comprehensive community and technical college for Northern Kentucky.

"When you are trying to build a comprehensive community and technical college, it simply takes money."

To open the facility, Gateway needs between $400,000 and $500,000 in new funds, he said. The other $1.5 million would allow more faculty and staff to be hired.

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System Board of Regents raised tuition 16.5 percent in May to $92 per credit hour.

While that does raise funds for the school, tuition makes only up about one-third of Gateway's budget, Hughes said.

"Even that is simply not sufficient," he said.

The shortage of funding could have a tremendous impact on students.

"It means we'll have a dedication ceremony, but we won't be able to open the doors," said Mae Keszei, a Gateway spokeswoman. "All Dr. Hughes has said is we're going to have a grand ceremony and put a padlock on the building until we have funds to run it."

To complicate budget matters, Kentucky lawmakers adjourned this year's legislative session in April without passing a state budget. House Democrats and Senate Republicans could not agree on specifics of a complex overhaul of the state's tax code proposed by Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

If lawmakers can't agree on a new budget by July 1, the start of the next fiscal year, Fletcher has said he will come up with his own spending plan. But there will be little new money and no funds for major new projects.

Hughes said he and other school officials are looking for business partnerships that would help ease Gateway's burden, but they're also working with Northern Kentucky University and other groups to pressure the legislature into passing a budget with sufficient new revenues, which would address education funding woes across the commonwealth.

"We're not crying wolf," Hughes said. "We're saying what reality is going to be. We are beyond the bone on this. We're really going to need a miracle, and hopefully there will be one in Frankfort."