DEARBORN — Henry Ford Community College has taken its first steps in finding a solution to some of the financial struggles that it has faced in recent years, which involve students who were abusing financial aid services and now owe the institution money.

Earlier this year, the college announced that it would be hiking tuition rates for the 2013-2014 school year, as well as taking pro-active measures to prevent students from abusing financial aid. The college had discovered a trend among students, who would enroll at the college, and then drop out after receiving their financial aid checks. This attributed to the college’s deficit, as the institution was expected to pay money back to the federal government, in order to make up for registered students who would end up dropping out.

At a Board of Trustees meeting held last week, the college discussed plans for an amnesty program that would run from July 15 to August 14 and would give previous and current registered students an opportunity to pay back 50 percent of what is owed, in hopes to bridge some of the $12 million deficit that the college faces.

Stan Jensen, who became the president of the college earlier this year, said that the plan was to send letters to students who already had past due bills.  These letters would inform them of the amnesty program.  The letters are expected to go out soon, so that students can have time to pay their bills and still register for fall classes. 

Students are not able to return to school, get their diplomas, or even their transcripts, unless they have paid off their debt. Jensen said he hopes that an opportunity to allow them to clear up their debt would encourage them to come back to HFCC. He says that the amnesty program would allow for more money to be returned to the school than if the debts were to go to collection agencies. In that case, they would only recoup 10-15 percent of what is owed. 

While the program is expected to head towards final approval at the next Board of Trustees meeting, some kinks remain that need to be worked out. Trustee James Schoolmaster hopes that the proposal includes more detail, while Trustee Aimee Schoelles has asked to re-word the motion, in order to take out the 50 percent clause, until they get final approval at the next finance committee meeting that will be held on July 8.  

HFCC’s attempt to cap their deficit includes other facets. According to the Dearborn Press & Guide, also discussed at the Board of Trustees meeting was a plan to ask residents to increase a current tax millage, from three mills to four mills, on the November ballot.  The millage increase would mean about $100 in additional taxes for the owner of a home with a taxable value of $100,000.

In another budgeting move, trustees also approved the layoff of 12 administrators. Those laid off include Gail Conte, grants coordinator; Douglas Freed, admissions and recruiting director; T. Allen Gigliotti, building and grounds director; Jeffrey Livermore, technology division associate dean; Susan Lohmann, manager of the Center for Lifelong Learning; Barbara Lukasiewicz, library director; Roger Maki-Schramm, financial aid systems manager; Lisa Masi, registration and records manager; Joshua Osborn, biology lab manager; Serhiy Pasishnyk, chemistry lab manager; Ann Prenger, Center for Lifelong Learning director; and Edward Wallish, auxiliary services coordinator.

In addition to those layoffs, the board warns that more could be on the way.

As expected, the layoffs were met with mixed reaction from other HFCC faculty and staff members, many of whom are under a union and had been expressing disappointment of the board for months now. Earlier this spring, union workers at the college had backed several potential candidates over Jensen, urging the board to take their opinion into consideration. However, despite their heavy presence at the meetings, the board still selected Jensen as their candidate for the position.