DANVILLE -- Starting this summer, people may have to dig a little deeper in their pockets to attend Danville Area Community College.

Administrators are proposing a tuition hike to help offset projected losses in state funding and property tax revenue in the 2012 fiscal year.

"We need to make sure we're able to start new programs, maintain the level of services we have and serve the students we have," President Alice Jacobs said. She added that the college has had a significant increase in enrollment the last few semesters and wants to start a new echocardiography program to meet the needs of local health care providers and interested students.

Under a proposal that will go before DACC trustees on Tuesday, tuition for in-district students would go from $89 per credit hour to $95 per credit hour.

The universal fee for technology and activities would remain at $12.

Also, tuition for out-of-district students including international students would go from $175 per credit hour to $185 per credit hour.

If approved, the new rates would take effect in the summer session.

The board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting is in Vermilion Hall, Room 302, at the campus, 2000 E. Main St. A copy of the agenda and board packet is available online at http://bit.ly/i7Z0xe.

Chief Financial Officer Gail Morrison said the $6 increase for in-district students would raise an additional $270,000 for the college, while the $10 increase for out-of-district students would raise another $20,000.

In past years, tuition and fees, property taxes and state funding each accounted for about one-third of DACC's operating revenues.

But this fiscal year, the state's portion dropped to about 20 percent, while property tax held steady at about 32 percent and tuition's portion grew to about 45 percent, Morrison said.

Morrison said state funding is expected to continue to decline in the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.

"They're talking about potentially a 20 percent cut in state funding across the board," she said, adding the college is supposed to receive $3.6 million in state funding this year. But "we're still owed around $1 million from the state right now."

Morrison said the college also learned recently that the college's equalized assessed valuation is projected to drop by about 1.6 percent, which could mean a $57,000 loss to the operating fund.

"It dropped very similarly last year, too," she said.

In addition, Jacobs said, at least one federal grant is being eliminated as of July 1.

"We've always been in a cost-containment mode and working to work more efficiently," Morrison said.

She said the operating budget has increased an average of 3.4 percent each year an "amazing" figure considering the number of initiatives that are now funded with operating revenues as restricted grant funding from the state has dried up.

Morrison also pointed out that despite the significant enrollment increase, DACC is operating with 20 fewer full-time administrators and support staffers than it did a decade ago.

"That's just a little over 10 percent of our full-time employees," she said.

In addition to serving more students, Jacobs said, the college is looking to launch an echocardiography program to meet the needs of local health care providers.

She added that if the proposal is approved, DACC's tuition rate would be slightly higher than the state average.