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Data shows PJC offers excellent, competitive education

Published or Revised January 30, 2014

An excellent education at a competitive rate is what Paris Junior College delivers, according to data distributed at the Board of Regents meeting Monday evening. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) collects data from about 7,500 institutions, then generates comparisons. PJC is grouped with 22 other Texas community colleges of medium size. According to IPEDS, PJC’s annual tuition and fees is $1,356 compared to $2,082 for peer colleges. PJC also provides a better graduation rate with a greater number of students on some form of financial aid or Pell grants than peers. PJC also has fewer full-time employees than peer colleges and pays a higher average faculty salary. “These numbers show how efficient we are and how much we’re doing with less,” said PJC President Dr. Pam Anglin. “We spend less per core expense category than any of our peers except for two categories - student services and public service.” PJC must rely more heavily on state funding because local tax dollars provide 8 percent of PJC ‘s revenues while other institutions receive on average 18 percent of their revenue from local taxes. Monday evening the regents also:
  • Received the first financial report from new Vice President of Business Services Teri Zamora.
  • Received a preliminary enrollment report with a head count of 4,966 students and contact hours of 1,103,718. State funding is based on contact hours. The numbers show that though the head count is lower than last year, students are taking more classes, which is good.
  • Approved the Investment Policy CAK (Local), as required each year by the Public Funds Investment Act. Changing the title of Dean to Vice President of Business Services was the only revision made.
  • Approved the Authorized Brokers/Dealers for Investment, which lists organizations PJC is approved to invest funds with.
  • Authorized the Texas Association of School Boards to go through the PJC policy manual to ensure usage of the correct titles reflecting the current organizational structure.
  • Went into executive session for consultation with attorney, deliberation regarding real property, and new hires and resignations. Following the executive session, the regents accepted the resignation of Instructor of Computer Science Julie Eckhardt, effective Dec. 31, 2013, and approved the employment of Instructor of Plumbing Kevin Adams, effective Jan. 6, and Instructor of Electrician Russell Dieterich, effective Jan. 27.