Tuition Assistance

Catholic high school students will face a $175 tuition increase next year, the smallest in six years, bringing the total school bill to $2,600, according to an archdiocesan spokeswoman. Non-Catholic students attending archdiocesan high schools will pay $200 more, or $3,200 per year, according to spokeswoman Marie Kelly. In a Jan. 18 letter to parents, Msgr. Philip J. Cribben, secretary for Catholic education in the archdiocese, said the 7.2 percent increase was the result of improved enrollment projections and new funding sources.

A month after they lost a bid to save their school, parents from Assumption School in Atco have sent a letter to Camden's new bishop accusing their pastor of a "contrived and deceptive charade" and a "gross lack of financial accountability" involving more than $340,000. As they push back against the school's closing in June, parents say the Rev. Thomas Barcellona of Christ the Redeemer Church always intended to close the school despite telling parents that he would keep it open if they met enrollment and financial targets.

Tuition reimbursement was reinstated for the children of 1,500 unionized nurses and health-care professionals at the Temple University Health System by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board last week. About 150 members, whose dependents had been using the benefit, should be reimbursed about $1 million, said Bill Cruice, chief negotiator for the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. Michael Horvitz, 59, an emergency-room nurse for 20 years, said that he had used the benefit to enhance his nursing education and that now his learning-disabled son planned to use it for his education.

Gov. McGreevey yesterday offered thousands of students another reason to attend a New Jersey community college: free tuition. As many as 16,000 spring graduates who finished in the top 20 percent of their class are eligible for free tuition this fall at one of 19 New Jersey community colleges. It is believed to be the first time that a state has offered such a program for its community colleges, said Lawrence Nespoli, president of the New Jersey Council of County Colleges.

It will cost $3,900 - an increase of $200 - to send a student to one of the 21 high schools the Archdiocese of Philadelphia operates in the five counties of Southeastern Pennsylvania in the fall. "Even with this increase in tuition for the next school year, the Catholic high schools administered by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will continue to charge one of the lowest tuitions that can be found in a privately funded high school operating anywhere in the United States," Richard McCarron, secretary for Catholic education, said in a letter mailed to parents Friday.

Tuition for the 22,000 students who attend high schools operated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will top $4,000 for the first time in September, officials said yesterday. The archdiocese announced that the basic tuition at its 21 high schools in the five-county region will be $4,140 for the 2005-06 academic year. The $240 increase amounts to 6 percent more than this year's tuition of $3,900. The new rate follows a 5.4 percent increase this school year. Richard McCarron, secretary for Catholic Education, informed parents of the new rate in a letter sent last Friday.

Tuition at New Jersey's 19 community colleges will rise an average of 4.4 percent this fall, the New Jersey Council of County Colleges said yesterday. The council called the increase modest and said it amounted to an increase of about $3.12 a credit hour. For full-time students, the average increase comes to about $94 a year. Tuition will rise $4 to $70 a credit hour for in-county students at Camden County College; $3 to $71 a credit hour at Gloucester County College, and $1 to $66 a credit hour at Burlington County College.

The union representing employees of area Super Fresh supermarkets ratified a contract agreement last night after more than six months of negotiations with the company, a union spokesman said. Members of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1776 voted 391-30 to ratify a three-year pact that includes pension increases of 33.3 percent for full-time workers and 40 percent for part-timers, local spokesman John Lavin said. The new contract also provides hourly pay raises of 50, 60 and 70 cents over the life of the contract, Lavin said.

Paying for college has become too big a burden for too many families. Lower-priced community colleges have been a viable alternative, but with new, stricter guidelines for federal financial aid, even those schools are becoming out of reach for some students. Across the region, local community college officials are blaming changes in the requirements to receive federal Pell Grants for the decreases and flat enrollment they are seeing this year. Those changes include a lower income cap to become eligible for a grant, fewer semesters of eligibility, and no more summer grants.

TRENTON - The Assembly approved a slew of job-creation bills during its final voting session of the year. Republicans, the minority in both chambers, asked Democrats to consider working with them before pushing through the bills. "This bill has been vetoed by the governor already," said Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R., Union). "Work with the governor instead of posting bills that have already been vetoed. " That's what Democrats are doing, said Majority Leader Lou Greenwald (D., Camden)