Low-cost classes provided by the Community College of Philadelphia are critically important for impoverished residents trying to better their lives, but many struggle to stay in school because they can’t afford basic resources like SEPTA fares and childcare, their instructors say.
Faculty members highlighted those needs at a City Council hearing Wednesday, as they lobbied for a significant increase in the city’s contribution to the school’s budget.
“The students that haunt me the most are the ones who don’t make it,” said Nate House, an assistant professor and union co-chair for full-time faculty. “Homeless students, hungry students, students who can’t afford reliable childcare, students who need transportation, students who need mental health services, students who need smaller class sizes, more advisors, more counselors, tutors and librarians.”
The union, AFT Local 2026, asked Council to support a $20 million funding boost, in addition to the $51 million that Mayor Cherelle Parker has proposed for the fiscal year that starts in July. The school’s operating budget this year is $129.6 million.
AFT argues the added money is needed to provide more student services and to raise wages for college staff. Over half of the staff do not make a living wage, according to the union, which is in the midst of contract negotiations with the school.
City Council has been holding budget hearings on all of the city’s agencies and programs over the last few weeks as it negotiates with Parker administration officials on a spending plan for the coming year, which must be passed by June 30.
The CCP faculty are among many groups asking for more money. That said, the college is “a big part of the conversation” around the budget, given the amount the city provides it every year, Councilmember Isaiah Thomas said.
“We want to make sure that our team over at CCP is as successful as possible,” Thomas said after the budget hearing. “We understand the ask that is on the table, but will that ask put them in a position to be able to take care of the staff, so that people are earning a livable wage? That’s the biggest question right now.”
Subsidy has increased, but staff are asking for more
Students, the state, and local governments are each supposed to fund one-third of community college budgets in Pennsylvania, but students bear a disproportionate burden.
Of the $150 million in total revenues CCP planned to take in this past year, including funds that go toward debt service and a scholarship program, 36.5% or about $55 million was expected to come from student tuition and fees, according to school budget documents.
Looking at just the $130 million operating budget, about 42% came from students. That’s down from 61% a decade ago.
The state’s contribution to the college’s budget has edged up over that period, from about 23% to 28%. The city’s subsidy has climbed significantly, from 14.8% in 2013-2014 to 27% currently. Another 3% comes from other sources.
In addition to the $51 million annual amount, last month the city sent the college an extra $10 million as a mid-year budget adjustment to offset increased costs and prevent a tuition increase, for a total of $61 million. Parker’s proposed city budget would bring the contribution back to $51 million in the coming year.
But those testifying at the budget hearing argued that the city should up its subsidy to $71 million. The $20 million increase request roughly corresponds to the amount students of color take out in student loans annually, the union says.
AFT 2026 proposes putting the money toward wage increases, smaller class sizes, smaller counselor caseloads, on-campus childcare, a full-time Diversity, Equity and Inclusion coordinator, and free transportation for students and employees.
“As a student who relies on public transportation, I can attest to the significant impact that affordable and reliable bus services would have on my life,” Jeran Aldarondo-Morales, a public health student at CCP, told councilmembers. “Currently, the lack of affordable transportation options makes it challenging for me to attend classes regularly, participate in extracurricular activities, and fully engage in campus life.”
The college had about 8,935 full-time equivalent students and 16,569 students enrolled in credit classes in 2021-2022, according to the school.
There were 310 full-time faculty members, 297 part-time faculty, and 520 administrative and support staff.
A demand to “tax the rich”
Adjunct instructors, who are part-timers without long-term contracts, earn an average of $1,790 per credit taught, which would translate to $5,370 for a typical three-credit class, according to a survey by the United Academics of Philadelphia union organization.
That’s relatively high for the region, but still not enough to represent a living wage, AFT 2026 members said. Many adjuncts teach at multiple schools to cobble together enough earnings to survive.
The union also argues that full-time, tenure-track faculty, while paid better than adjuncts, still lag far behind their counterparts at other colleges and in some cases their pay doesn’t constitute a living wage. Assistant professor of English and union secretary Marissa Johnson-Valenzuela said that, when adjusted for inflation, starting salaries are 58% of what they were in 1980.
“We don’t usually like to talk about ourselves much because our adjunct colleagues and our staff makes so much less,” testified Johnson-Valenzuela, who said she was a single mother with one child. “I’ve been at CCP for 13 years, I’m tenured, I was promoted to an associate professor, and I don’t make a living wage… I’m not even close if I work overtime.”
AFT 2026 members asked Council to “tax the rich” more in Philadelphia to pay for the requested $20 million budget increase and a host of other public services.
The union referenced a report put out in March by the Action Center on Race and the Economy, a left-leaning political advocacy organization in Chicago. It says Philadelphia should stop decreasing business tax rates, create a wealth tax, and demand universities makes payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) to fund priorities like CCP, parks and rec centers, affordable housing, and a mobile crisis unit.
In written testimony to City Council, CCP’s administration did not make a specific budget request, other than to ask for an additional $500,000 to expand its dual enrollment program for high school students.
The administration said it was looking forward to a new program Parker has proposed that would train a “pipeline” of future city workers, but did not say if it will require additional funding. Parker’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the union’s budget request.
