Fee hikes should be shared
By Lina Chung
June 21, 2009 11:37 p.m.
As the University of California system faces $619 million in across-the-board budget cuts, here’s an idea to level the fiscal playing field for higher education: Raise community college fees.
Four-year institutions should not be the sole bearer of student fee increases and cuts to financial aid. The state cannot continue to punish UC and CSU students without exploring other options of financial funding within the California higher education system.
Fee hikes may be considered especially taboo in our flailing economy, but the idea of increasing ““ even doubling ““ community college student fees is absolutely within reason.
Increasing community college fees would easily help relieve the financial strain on four-year university students and, in turn, would improve the quality of education for community college students who plan to transfer into the UC system.
Currently, fees throughout the California Community College System are $20 per credit, or $300 a semester for a full-time student. That means student fees for a full year at a community college are less than what an average UCLA student spends on textbooks and other supplies each year ““ about $1,600.
In fact, California’s community college student fees are by far the lowest of any state ““ about half of New Mexico’s community college student fees, and less than one-third of the national average.
In addition to lessening the load on California’s budget, per-unit fee increases at junior colleges will help retain and fund important academic programs, such as those needed to transfer to four-year universities or for job training.
Mathematically, it doesn’t make sense for the nation’s most populated state to have the lowest junior college fees. The California Community Colleges System boasts that it “is the largest higher educational system in the nation, comprised of 72 districts and 110 colleges with more than 2.6 million students per year.”
The community college system is the largest higher education system, with the greatest volume and lowest course fees ““ it is obvious where to begin tightening the statewide monetary belt.
The idea of community college fee increases isn’t meant to single out junior colleges or to hurt prospective transfer students.
After all, UCLA’s long-standing Transfer Alliance Program is designed to work in conjunction with California Community Colleges to facilitate the transfer process from a two-year to a four-year program.
In fact, the program has helped many transfer students create academic plans at their original colleges (such as Santa Monica College, Los Angeles City College and West Los Angeles College), and has also provided “meaningful linkages with UCLA … such as on-campus informational meetings and tours, library privileges, and opportunities to attend selected UCLA cultural and athletic events,” according to the program’s Web site.
We are already working together academically; now we should continue to work together financially.
If the state continues to provide a higher education bargain for junior colleges, the long-term effects will eventually tear at the financial seams.
What good will come of pampering community college students who will eventually transfer into a broken UC system? Practically speaking, there are little long-term benefits of keeping student fees unrealistically low for community college students who are also prospective UCLA transfers.
Fees for UCLA’s 2009-2010 school year will be increased by $662 per year for California resident undergraduate students.
Indeed, fee increases and budget cuts have already begun to affect the quantity of students applying to the UC system, evidenced by a drop in applications of students from middle-class families.
Currently, UCLA alone faces $109 million in budget cuts, or a 16 percent reduction of its general fund. In addition, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to eliminate Cal Grants would dramatically end the state’s primary source of college aid for students.
In order to begin the process of financial cuts, UCLA is going to initiate sweeping downsizes. Academic programs and faculty members will be decreased, resulting in a 10 to 20 percent reduction in academic departments over several years.
Rather than continue to chip away at the foundations of the UC system’s finances, perhaps California should turn to this realistic and simple solution.
E-mail Chung at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].
