Two weekends ago, the Community College System of New Hampshire graduated 2,340 students, the largest graduating class in the system’s history. Those figures will keep rising if the system continues to work hard to control costs.

On Tuesday, the system’s trustees voted against raising tuition. It will be the third time since 2006 that tuition has not gone up. And it happens this year even though the state budget ax fell hard on the community college system. It was cut by nearly 20 percent in the last round of state budgeting. The trustees could have used that as an easy excuse to raise tuition. Instead, they held it steady and concentrated on holding costs down. A typical course at a New Hampshire community college costs $630. That’s more than in many other state community college systems, but it is less than at many universities.

The University System of New Hampshire seems never to miss an opportunity to raise tuition and fees. If that trend continues in conjunction with the more frugal governing at the community college system, more and more families are going to notice. We would not be surprised if the community college system’s focus on value siphons more students from USNH in the coming years, especially if the economy continues sputtering.