The Legislative Analyst’s Office, a fiscal analysis group, recommended raising California Community College fees by $14 Thursday in its 2010-2011 Higher Education budget report.
According to the report, LAO analysts recommended that the state Legislature reject and alter portions of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal, which does not include fee increases for CCC students. The analysts argue that raising fees from $26 per unit to $40 per unit would “take better advantage of federal dollars available for students.”
According to the report, need-based financial aid programs, such as the CCC’s Board of Governors Fee Waiver, would leave a most students unaffected by a fee increase.
“Keeping fees low does nothing to help lower-income students because these students don’t have to pay fees due to a long-standing fee waiver program,” Higher Education Director Steve Boilard said in a YouTube webcast attached to the report. “What’s more, most middle- and upper- income students who do pay fees are eligible to have those fees reimbursed through the federal government’s tuition tax credit program.”
The recommendation comes at the heels of a $6 fee hike that went into effect for the 2009-2010 school year, an increase of 30 percent from the previous year that brought fees to a current $26 per unit. Even with that hike, CCC’s fees are relatively low: The LAO estimates that CCC fees are “at about 27 percent of the national average.”\
“This fee is by far the lowest in the country,” Boilard said.
“[A fee increase] would generate about $150 million in new fee revenue for the community colleges, which would provide funding for about 26,000 more full-time community college slots,” Boilard said.
The analysts also reccomend that the Legislature reject the Governor’s proposed suspension of Cal Grants starting in 2010-2011.
The report outlines restoring per-student funding for the UC and CSU systems to pre-fiscal crisis levels, which would shave $298 million from the Governor’s budget.
Vanessa Solis
Features Editor
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