Tuition and fees are about to climb at Brookdale Community College, the Asbury Park Press reports, adding to student costs that are already the state’s highest among community colleges.

From the story:

Students will see a 4.9 percent tuition increase in the second half of this year, as the school maintains its status as the highest-priced county college in New Jersey. The second whammy will come from a bigger spike in the mandatory per-credit student services fees, which will raise the total cost of attending Monmouth County’s junior college by 6.5 percent.

The school’s board of trustees unanimously approved the increases and the school’s operating budget at its public meeting Thursday night.

The new maximum full-year cost of attending the school will be $4,016 — an increase of $246. Tuition was set at $108 per credit up to a maximum of 15 credits. The student services fee, formerly 22 percent of tuition, was moved to 24 percent.

“Wow, that’s getting close to the Ivy League,” said Class of 2002 graduate Eric Wettermark, a Long Branch resident. “I don’t remember paying anywhere near that amount when I went here.”

School President Peter Burnham said the school is subject to a “balancing act” from its three major sources of revenue — tuition payments, county funding and state funding — and added, “The state isn’t paying its share.”

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