Tuition and fees are on track to increase by $3 per credit hour for in-county students in Fall 2017.

The tuition hike is expected as part of a proposed campus operating budget for fiscal year 2018, which the Board of Trustees is scheduled to approve on Feb. 28.

Tuition has increased by $3 per credit hour every fiscal year since 2014. In fiscal 2013, tuition went up by $16 per credit hour. In 2012, it rose by $5 per credit hour.

AACC administrators have said they expect this year’s increase to match last year’s. One of the college’s budget goals for fiscal 2018 is “small tuition and fee increases while maximizing enrollment,” according to Public Relations and Marketing Director Dan Baum.

Predictably, students said they oppose any increase in tuition.

“[Tuition] is already expensive as it is,” said Emily Sapienza, a freshman elementary education major. “Classes and books are expensive too, and it is a struggle.”

Baum said the trustees favor small, consistent increases in tuition and in the overall campus operating budget over occasional, large spikes.

The operating budget, which pays for college expenses unrelated to buildings and other facilities on campus, increased in fiscal 2017 by $1.8 million, to $113.7 million, after dropping by nearly $2.8 million the year before.

The Board of Trustees on March 1 will submit the budget to the Anne Arundel County executive, who will weigh in on it before forwarding it to the County Council for final approval by mid-June.