"We have some projections, some best and worst case scenarios for next year," said College President Ronnie Nettles. "We don't know how much the Legislature will give us, but we have a spreadsheet ready for when we get the numbers from the state. We're proceeding from an administrative standpoint so that when we get the funding, we'll know what to do with it."

Uncertainty about the stimulus funds also made it impossible for the school to post a list of recommended personnel for the next year until the May 2009 board of trustees meeting.

"We don't have a lot of information, but we anticipate the Legislature will make some decisions around May or June," Nettles told the board at the April meeting Thursday afternoon.

The federal bailout money is an issue for entities all over the state. Gov. Haley Barbour is hosting a stimulus summit is set for April 16 to discuss uses for the federal stimulus money, of which Mississippi is receiving an estimated $2.5 billion to $2.8 billion through the stimulus.

Meanwhile, Mississippi lawmakers have proposed that the state should issue more than $282 million in bonds to pay for large public projects, and the bill includes $35 million for universities. Nettles said it looks like Co-Lin's share of that money will be around $400,000.

Officials also discussed dormitory needs, with an update on an evaluation done by architects and engineers on whether Ellzey Hall, a men's dormitory, has seen its best years at Co-Lin. The report showed that it is unlikely that Ellzey could reasonably be remodeled in a cost-efficient manner for more dormitory or office space.

"Long-term, we have a need for male dorms on campus," Nettles said. "That's what we're looking at."

According to the report, several other buildings on the Wesson campus are also in need of new windows and doors in order to become more energy-efficient.

Director of Distance Learning Julia Parker also attended the meeting to update trustees on the success of the program. She said Co-Lin has more than 1,200 online students this year, which is an increase of around 18 percent from last year.

Parker said this year's enrollment puts Co-Lin at number eight of the state's 15 community college in the Mississippi Virtual Community College rankings. The MSVCC is a consortium of community colleges that makes it possible for them to leverage their distance learning resources, including faculty, courses, support services and technology.

Meanwhile, more Co-Lin employees have finished teaching course training online than any other community college.

The fall semester should bring five new courses and four new faculty members, Parker said.

The board also voted to set fall break on the same week as Thanksgiving for the 2009 fall semester, giving students a week off at that time. The change was made because the originally scheduled fall break was set for the week of Homecoming.