Who's Against Lower Student Fees?

By JILL LEOVY

June 23, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

At $12 per unit, the California Community Colleges offer the nation’s cheapest college education--one that is expected to get even cheaper with the Legislature’s passage of a proposal to reduce fees for the second year in a row.

But although low fees are popular with students and lawmakers, they are criticized by some policy experts who say that, contrary to intent, California’s rock-bottom community college prices work against the interests of low-income students.

“Fee reductions help the most well-to-do half of students, but do nothing for the poorest students,” said Buzz Breedlove, higher education coordinator with the state legislative analyst’s office.

The reason, he said, is that more than 40% of California community college students qualify for fee waivers, so they don’t have to pay.

For these students--in theory, anyway--fee reductions only shrink the overall pool of funds for college, and make the state less able to take advantage of a federal tax credit program.

Breedlove’s views are echoed by college officials, who say popular fee policies amount to subsidies for the middle class.

But such criticism is countered by educators who cite a powerful psychological benefit of low fees. They say that, despite drawbacks, low fees help attract students, many of whom enroll with incomplete information about what aid they might receive.

“A lot of families look at the cost of college and say, ‘Gee, we can’t afford it.’ Then their children aren’t motivated to try to get there,” said Hortense Cooper, financial aid director at Los Angeles City College.

Approval by Governor Expected

The question is not likely to be resolved soon. The proposed $1-per-unit fee reduction for next fall, which sailed through the Legislature, is expected to be approved by Gov. Gray Davis.

The new per-unit fee would be $11 a unit, down from $13 two years ago. The average yearly fees for a full-time student would fall from the current $360 per year to about $330. The measure was supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, and by Davis--despite a recommendation against it by the state legislative analyst.

It’s not hard to understand such backing, said Patrick McCallum, lobbyist for the Los Angeles Community College District.

Reductions in community college fees are so popular with voters that some polls have found they are more strongly supported than reductions in vehicle registration fees, he said.

But community college officials say this year’s proposed fee reduction would cost the system nearly $13 million. The number is small compared to other funding sources--fees, after all, supply only 8% of per-student revenues, with the rest coming from state tax revenues. But since most colleges operate on razor-thin margins, the amount is enough to rankle college leaders.

“For us, a full-time student’s tuition reduction will buy one cup of coffee per week for a semester. For a part-time student, it’s a video rental per semester,” said Jim Middleton, superintendent and president of the College of Marin.

By contrast, if the state kept fees at present levels, the money that trickled down to Marin would be enough to double the district’s library book funds or furnish a new computer lab, he said. “If we are really interested in student benefit, my students would benefit more from more books and computers than from one video a semester,” he said.

Another problematic aspect of California’s low fees is that they hurt the state’s ability to benefit from federal money for higher education, Breedlove said.

New federal tax credits for college fees, for example, allow parents to take a 100% tax credit for the first $1,000 of their children’s tuition. Some states charge high tuition, knowing that the effect on students will be offset with the tax credit.

But with current fees at about $360 per year, the state is essentially sacrificing the difference--$640 per student--by not charging fees that could be recovered by parents in tax credits.

“All that money could be targeted to low-income kids,” said Thomas J. Kane, associate professor of public policy at Harvard.

In the early days of the California Community Colleges, there were no fees at all. In 1984, after lawmakers decided that students should contribute to the cost of their education, a fee of $100 a year was imposed.

Since then, fees have varied with the political winds and the amount of cash in state coffers, but have always remained low relative to other states.

Community college fees are set by the state Legislature, and are the same at all 107 state community colleges.

Although California claims the lowest fees in the country, the state is not a leader in college access for the poor. Instead, the state ranks 22nd in the nation in the chances that a low-income student will make it to college, according to a study by Tom Mortenson, a researcher who publishes the Postsecondary Education Opportunity newsletter.

Part of California’s problem is that college fees have been handled in such a haphazard way, said Warren Fox, executive director of the state Postsecondary Education Commission. “We have no fee policy in California,” he said.

Community college fees tend to go up in economic hard times--exactly when students most need a break--and come down, as now, when the economy is strong, he said. The commission is supporting a bill to “get away from up and down swings in fees,” he said. “Increases should be gradual, moderate and predictable.”

Overall, California has high college enrollment rates among adults, probably partly a result of the historically low fees.

In the past, increases in fees have corresponded with dips in enrollment, fueling the belief that fees and enrollment numbers are intertwined. But Breedlove says small fluctuations have not been found to be strongly correlated to price.

Christopher Cabaldon, a California Community Colleges vice chancellor, agreed, noting that last year’s decrease in tuition did not result in higher enrollments.

But supporters say low fees still ease the burden on the middle-income students, too well-off to qualify for financial aid but poor enough to feel the pinch from fees.

After all, fee waivers only go to the poorest of students, said Louis Reyes, president of the California Student Assn.

Individuals must earn $7,500 or less per year to qualify for waivers, but those earning much more can get them if they qualify for financial aid. Still, Reyes said many students living slightly above these levels don’t get waivers. “I don’t see that as middle class,” Reyes said. “They are working poor.”

Jose Portillo, a Salvadoran immigrant, is among the students who find even California’s low fees burdensome. A single father studying engineering at Los Angeles City College, Portillo supports himself and his son on the $24,000 per year he earns at his full-time job setting up jewelry displays.

He attends school at night, and is doing well, excelling especially in math. But financial pressures and limited time have often forced him to cut back on classes, slowing his progress through school. He has never applied for financial aid because he knows little about the program and doesn’t think he would qualify.

Even a small reduction in fees “would help me a lot,” Portillo said. As it is, he said, he rarely has enough money to pay his fees up front, often paying them late into the semester.

But students acknowledge that other costs are far more difficult to meet. The high cost of books, for example, often dwarfs the fees. “Books--oh, my God,” said Ronni Julian, a 23-year-old City College student. “You can pay $50 to $80 per book. I struck deals with friends in class to do tutoring in exchange for them letting me use their books.”

Part of the problem with analyzing the effect of fees is that the state does not have clear information on the financial status of community college students.

No one knows, for example, how many students who don’t receive aid are comfortably middle class, or harried working poor, as Reyes asserts. No one knows how easily they meet their college expenses.

Several students pointed out that not everyone who is eligible get fee waivers right away. Sometimes the waivers don’t come through because of bureaucratic glitches, said Fernando Roberts, 30, also a single father at L.A. City College.

“Twelve dollars--it adds up,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Community College Costs

Highest

State: 1. Vermont

Average annual tuition / fees (1989-99): #2,692

State: 2. New York

Average annual tuition / fees (1989-99): $2,552

State: 3. Indiana

Average annual tuition / fees (1989-99): $2,540

State: 4. Massachusetts

Average annual tuition / fees (1989-99): $2,317