To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

BROOME COUNTY, N.Y. -- As lawmakers in Albany get closer to a budget vote, state agencies are preparing for money to start coming their way.

Funding for community colleges for the next fiscal year is expected to be about $618 million state-wide.

At Broome Community College, officials aren't expecting funds from the state budget to affect the bottom line too much, but say it should help ease the burden on tuition.

Last year, tuition at BCC rose by about seven percent. This year, President Kevin Drumm expects the increase to be about half that. In the end, he says that means about 65 extra dollars a semester for students. And Drumm adds that for the first time since he's been at BCC, the college will be hiring new faculty.

"We've really held the line on hiring for the last three years or so, which is primarily how we've balanced the budget, by not replacing most of the people who've left, one way or another and we are going to have a small flurry of hiring here through the spring and that's going to be the most positive impact of all of this," Drumm said.

Drumm says he expects about a dozen new employees to be added, but that number could be even higher if existing faculty takes advantage of early retirement options.