Arizona Western College President Dr. Daniel Corr came down to the KAWC station for an interview Wednesday morning to reflect on the year that just ended and the next that’s about to commence. But with the next fiscal year swiftly approaching on July 1, Corr had a major announcement to make: AWC won’t be raising property taxes this year.
“We had originally––our draft budget that our district governing board approved in April–called for a 1.85% increase in property tax,” he said. “We will ask the board today – today's Wednesday – and we're going to have a district governing board meeting this afternoon. We are now asking for no property tax increase. Why is that? Because our enrollment is growing at a rate where we should derive sufficient tuition revenue without raising tuition anymore, right? But just more students paying tuition that we will not need a property tax increase. And this will be the third year in a row, and I believe the seventh out of eight years where we will not have a property tax increase.”
Corr explained that enrollment at AWC is up 13% since the past fall semester.
“I don't think we'll sustain that, but we're way ahead of where we were at this point last year, and even if we had half of that, even if we had a 6 to 7% increase, that would be huge because we have been the fastest growing community college in the state of Arizona whether you measure that in the last three years, five years or ten years,” he commented. “So no matter where you snap the chalk, AWC is the fastest growing community college in Arizona, and it looks like we're just continuing along that path.”
A press release published today by AWC notes that the college is top in the state for enrollment growth, attributing growth to the expansion of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programming and its concurrent and dual enrollment programs.The latter, also known as Early College programs, have grown 17% since 2023. Per AWC, local high school students have completed a total of approximately 15,500 credit hours in the 2024-2025 academic year.
“We've seen that program grow and grow and grow by almost 1,000% over the last eight years, right?” Corr said. “It just seemingly doubles every year. But here's the key: after they graduate high school, those students who now have a college-going mindset, who might have nine, 12, 24 credit hours are coming to AWC. So they're not just dual-enrollment students; they're dual-enrollment students who, upon graduating high school, become AWC students. And then the explosive growth of our CTE programming. It really is where the growth at the institution is.”
He elaborated that the Entrepreneurial College, led by Reetika Dhawan, has created new healthcare programs in partnership with Onvida Health. It’s added a truck driving, or Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), training program for Yuma and La Paz. AWC has also broken ground on the Future48 Workforce Accelerator, which expands its Wellton Manufacturing Training Center.
“No one wants to take a training program that does not lead to the job, right?” Corr said. “And too often in higher education, we create programs in a bubble, and that's not the approach here at AWC. Our faculty meet with industry leaders. They're out in the community. They talk to business and industry. We find out what their needs are. We find out exactly what skills they want their employees to have. And then we tailor our programming around the needs of employers, so that when our students graduate, they're filling that need in the local economy and they're able to get the job they want and local employers are able to get the employees they want. It’s a win-win-win.”
Despite the gains, potential losses may come in the way of federal funding. When asked further about the decision to not raise property taxes, Corr explained that it’s only a last-resort measure.
“The bottom line is this college is funded about $2 out of every $3 from local property tax, and we start every budget cycle with the assumption that we will not ask for more money from our friends and neighbors because they're working really hard to get that money, and I will not ask for a dollar in taxes that I don't absolutely need,” he said. “And as we continued to crunch the numbers this year, we didn't need that property tax increase, so I'm not going to ask for it. I don't want to ask for more money because it's not our money. So that when I do have to ask for a tax increase, which is always our last option, the community knows and our board knows that it really was absolutely necessary. So we treat every dollar like it's precious and make sure that it's deriving benefit to the community.”
In an email to the Matador community in early June, Corr stated that College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), TRIO and KAWC funds were at risk. Pell Grant award levels may also decrease.
“Our CAMP program–which is College Access for Migrant Populations, just a stellar program–it's been at the college for a number of years,” he said. “We have 80 students in that program. The college already pays for 40 out of our budget, and the federal government has been paying for the other 40. That grant expires June 30th, and we haven't heard whether we're being refunded, funded again. So we're working under the assumption that we will not and at least for the next year, we will utilize college resources for all 80, and that's because those students have committed to the program. We've committed to those students.
“And other things like the Pell, you know, the Senate has passed a different version than the House; that'll have to be reconciled. Many of our students rely on Pell to fund their education. We want to make sure that that remains readily available for students. We don't really have our students take out loans. They don't have to, right, because of our low tuition.”
For the CAMP and TRIO programs, Corr reiterated that the college will compensate for any losses next fiscal year. As for KAWC and the potential money it may lose from the rescission package that’s up for vote at the Senate, he encourages listeners to advocate.
“The college as a nonpartisan entity is limited in what lobbying we can and should be doing,” he said. “Certainly we can advocate and I think most importantly, your listeners can advocate and that's been the approach that we've taken at the college.
“I know that it's pledge drive week right now, so if at some point you listen to this or some point in the future, get on the phone during those pledge drives and make a monetary contribution to public radio in Yuma.”
Pell Grant awards are determined at the individual level and come from the federal government, but Corr is hopeful that the financial assistance that the AWC Foundation provides will continue to help students in need.
“At $100 a credit hour, we're the best bargain in town, and the cost of not getting an education is many multiples of that $100 so you know what, Sisko? One way or another, we're going to continue to thrive,” he said. “We're going to continue to serve this community and next year, again, it's absolutely going to be another great year to be a Matador.”
Near the end of his interview, Corr concluded that despite the challenges, the college will continue to stay on top of the changes, hoping for the best but planning for the worst.
“There's great uncertainty, frankly,” he said. “We're here, what? The 17th of June with a new fiscal year, two weeks away, and we don't know where our funding sources will be coming from. But I can't stress enough: our enrollment is just going through the roof and that's huge because we're growing our way out of these problems. “The tuition revenue that we're deriving from students is really providing us with the flexibility to continue to support these programs while we await final word from the federal government.”
Later that day, the district governing board approved the 2025-2026 budget alongside the request to not raise property taxes. At $128 million, the budget is aimed at expanding the Early College program, further growing workforce training and investing in inclusive technology infrastructure in support of AWC’s 2028 Strategic Plan.
This reporting is supported by a grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation.
