Students may need to brace themselves for yet another hike in enrollment fees, said Pablo Buckelew, dean of Educational Programs.
To combat the state’s budget crisis, Gov. Schwarzenegger has proposed raising enrollment fees at community colleges from $18 per unit to $26 for undergraduate students, and from $18 to $50 for students who have already earned bachelor’s degree.
These hikes would come on top of a hike imposed before this past semester, which raised fees from $11 per unit to $18.
Buckelew said though he does not anticipate a protracted decrease in City College’s enrollment numbers, these proposed hikes would do some harm.
“It will hurt part-time student enrollment,” he said. “Students with bachelor’s degrees will be hurt a great deal.”
In addition to last semester’s fee hikes, City College suffered a $1.5 million budget cut. To compensate, all the college’s departments shared reductions in funds to avoid cutting certain classes.
Despite a reduced budget and higher fees, City College actually offered more classes to “preserve the heart of the institution,” Buckelew said.
City College actually increased the number of classes available last Fall to accommodate higher student enrollment.
“Our enrollment went up despite fee increases,” he said. “I think it’s because we made fee increase (payment) as palatable as possible.”
Buckelew attributes the enrollment increase to the “pro-student, fair” approach City College took in collecting money owed from students who enrolled before the fee hike notice last summer.
“Some colleges said ‘you have a week to pay it, or we’re going to drop you,'” he said. “Those colleges got hurt big time.”
Students were allowed the entire semester to pay off the additional expenses, with the spring enrollment serving as the deadline. To re-enroll or conduct business with the school, like transcript requests, the resulting debt had to be paid off.
If Schwarzenegger’s new proposals become law, City College plans to make the same allowances in Fall semester.
Though he calls these hikes “the equivalent of putting a tax on students,” Buckelew considers the state government’s treatment of the community college system to be fair.
State legislators “really did not want it to impact poor students,” he said. “That was to their credit.”
To combat the risk of sweeping drops in enrollment, legislators increased funding for community college financial aid offices.
City College has put this money to use in a marketing campaign that has cost over $100,000, said Brad Hardison, financial aid director.
Advertisements have been placed throughout campus, on MTD buses, in local high schools and publications, and on the radio. The college has sponsored workshops on campus and in local high schools and plans to hire two more advisers to accommodate the expected increase in student demand.
The goal of the campaign, which commenced in January, is to raise public awareness of the availability of financial aid.
“If students are at any point thinking that they don’t have the resources, they should come see us and get the info,” Hardison said. “That’s the biggest message we’re trying to get out.”