I talked to 21-year-old Michelle Zuziak of Ephrata about college costs, and I didn't exactly make her day.

"That's upsetting," she said when I pointed out how her bill for Harrisburg Area Community College is higher because she lives in Lancaster County.

"That's crazy," said Megan Brill, 18, of Lancaster, when I showed her she was paying $244 more per course than HACC students who live in Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry counties.

"I had no idea," said Toby Miller, 27, a city resident studying criminal justice. "It is quite a difference."

It is, indeed. Harrisburg area residents pay $389 per three-credit course. Lancaster County residents pay $633.

Lancaster County residents pay the higher rate even if they take classes at the Harrisburg campus.

Why the two-tiered pricing? The explanation is both simple and disconcerting for what it says about Lancaster County's commitment to higher education.

Economic impact
HACC's tuition is lower for residents of Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry counties because 22 school districts in those counties make annual payments — one as high as $2.7 million — to the community college.

But in Lancaster County, school districts pay nothing.

Why? Before a community college can open, the state requires it have a local funding source to complement state funding.

At HACC's founding in 1963, school districts in three counties — but not Lancaster County — signed on. To this day, HACC students living in those 22 districts enjoy a tuition discount that no doubt is what puts a post-secondary degree in reach for many.

Not all of Pennsylvania's 14 community colleges are sponsored by school districts, though. Ten get funding from counties.

In Berks County, for example, the county commissioners this year are contributing $3.2 million to Reading Area Community College. As a result, Berks countians pay $249 per three-credit course — the third-lowest rate in the state.

Berks commissioner Christian Leinbach, in an e-mail response to my query, cited two reasons for the county supporting a community college.

Lowering tuition makes college affordable for many in Berks County, Leinbach said. The funding also recognizes the college's "major and positive impact" on work force development, retraining and economic development.

Commissioners balk
Diane Bosak of the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges said surveys back up Leinbach. Community college graduates earn more and give back to their communities, she said. A survey found that 80 percent of graduates take up residence within 25 miles of their community college, even if they left the area to further their education at a four-year college.

"We help make sure there is not a brain drain," Patrick Early, a HACC vice president, said. "We keep people in the community."

Sixteen years ago, the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce and Industry spearheaded a push for county sponsorship of a homegrown community college, but none of the county commissioners could be swayed.

Six years later, HACC broke ground on its Lancaster campus.

With enrollment around 5,000, HACC-Lancaster has been successful despite the lack of a local sponsor. But imagine how many more young adults would gain a foothold in the middle class if tuition was more affordable.

All Megan Brill knows is she's working and scrimping to afford HACC, and she envies the $244 discount other students enjoy.

"That would be a big difference to me," she said.

jhawkes@lnpnews.com