BANGOR – The rising cost of salaries, health benefits and heating fuel were cited among the reasons for a recommended 5.4 percent increase in tuition across the board at Maine community colleges, system President John Fitzsimmons said Tuesday.

Cuts in faculty, staff and classes still may be necessary without greater financial support from the state, he said.

He explained that the community college system needs about $2.3 million to keep up with the spiraling cost of doing business.

If the board of trustees approves the recommendation at its regularly scheduled meeting today in Augusta, in-state students will pay about $120 more a year for a total tuition cost of $2,340.

Noting that his recommendation comes after a “thoughtful analysis,” Fitzsimmons said he has discussed the increase with members of a trustee subcommittee, and that he anticipates the full board “would support the recommendation with great reluctance.”

The tuition increase would be the second in a row after six years of a freeze that brought Maine’s second-costliest-in-the-nation ranking to within $326 of the national average tuition for community colleges, based on data from The College Board’s 2004-05 survey of states.

Even with the increase, annual tuition at the community colleges would remain significantly lower than at the state’s public universities which charge between $4,200 and $5,000.

“But we still have a tuition that I think is higher than I’d like to see it,” Fitzsimmons said.

When compared to other New England states, Maine’s community college tuition rate of $2,220 is below the regional average of $3,086. Maine ranks below New Hampshire ($4,920), Vermont ($3,912), and Connecticut ($2,232). It is ahead of Rhode Island ($2,180) and Massachusetts ($720).

Even if the proposed tuition increase were approved today, Fitzsimmons said the community college system would face a $1.3 million budget shortfall that could mean laying off faculty and staff and reducing classes.

An additional $1 million in state funding “would substantially lessen the chances” of layoffs and a drop in programs and services, according to Fitzsimmons, who said the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee is debating whether to increase funding for higher education.

“If we get additional relief from the Legislature, that could solve it for us. If we can add a few more students, that may help. But without additional legislative support, I anticipate layoffs,” he said.

Fitzsimmons noted that the system had requested a 6 percent increase in state appropriations for 2006, but received 2.5 percent instead. That amount was about $3.3 million short of what the system needed to keep abreast of rising costs in such items as salaries, health benefits and heating fuel.

“While we’re appreciative [of the legislative funding], this meant we had greater needs than the state was able to support,” he said.

Gov. John Baldacci did provide additional funding to help defray the community college system’s heating costs and to expand the nursing, boat building and early college programs, noted Fitzsimmons.

But other expenses, such as retirement and health care benefits, utilities and supplies, all are “going up faster than inflation,” said Maine Community College System spokeswoman Alice Kirkpatrick.

On top of that, enrollment has jumped by 3,700 to 10,188 since the conversion three years ago from a technical college system to the community college system – a change that involved increased course offerings.

The decision to recommend a tuition hike “is one of the most difficult I have to make,” Fitzsimmons said.

“Every time you raise tuition there is an impact. It means that some students who are going to school full time may have to drop to half time and that some students won’t be able to come at all or will have to take out greater loans,” he said.