College Fees

Because of the new state budget, student fees at Glendale Community College and Los Angeles City College will increase from $10 per unit to $13 per unit, with no cap, effective immediately. The enrollment fee of $50 per unit for students holding bachelor's degrees will not change. According to the state chancellor's office, the original increase proposed was to $15 per unit, with a maximum of $150.

Scores of students, teachers and other advocates for illegal immigrants are launching rallies, phone drives, petition campaigns and other actions this week for what they see as their best hope to win access to public financial aid for undocumented college students. A small rally in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday was part of a statewide series of actions to prod a state Senate committee this week to allow a floor vote on AB 131, a hotly contested measure that would give undocumented students who qualify for reduced in-state tuition access to nearly $40 million in coveted Cal Grants, community college fee waivers and other public grant and scholarship programs.

Irvine Valley College President Anna L. McFarlin helped unfurl a 20-foot-long banner at the college Thursday announcing a $50,000 fund-raising drive for student scholarships. The banner will hang from the Student Services Center until the goal is reached and will be marked to show fund-raising progress.

Tens of thousands of students waving placards and chanting anti-government slogans marched through central London on Wednesday to protest plans to triple university costs as part of Britain's radical deficit-reduction program. Organizers said about 50,000 students marched through the streets and around the Houses of Parliament, including small breakaway groups that vandalized a government building, to show their outrage at plans to raise the cost of studying at a public university to about $14,000 a year.

Re "He's Huge in the Capitol but Definitely Not Big Man on University Campuses," May 17: I'm glad George Skelton brought up college fees, because this is what you get when people get up in arms about a vehicle fee hike, which, by the way, was former Gov. Pete Wilson's idea in the first place, not former Gov. Gray Davis'. I guess Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's kids won't have to worry about getting into college or paying high tuition fees. But there are a lot of parents out there who struggle to get by and pay for their children's education who will now be hurt by his decisions regarding college fees.

The California Assembly on Monday approved a bill to freeze public college fees for two years and base any future increases on upturns in an economic indicator that has been growing about 4.5% a year. The legislation, passed 44 to 20, is one of two bills trying to set a long-range fee policy that would supply ample money for California colleges and universities without repeating the whopping fee increases of the early 1990s. The bill now moves to the state Senate.

Gov. Pete Wilson signed a slew of education-related bills Friday, including a state college fee cut and a tax break for parents saving for college. Also signed into law were bills more than doubling the fine for running a red light to $270 and giving counties more money to pay for trial courts. The fee bill by Assemblywoman Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego) will cut fees at all state colleges beginning next fall.

The 100 or so students gathered inside UCLA's Kerckhoff Hall one recent day clapped and cheered when state Treasurer Phil Angelides repeated his frequent campaign promise to cut student fees at California's public colleges and universities. "Go, Phil!" a young man shouted from the back, as others munched on free pizza provided by the Bruin Democrats, a student group.

Pete Tafoya, President, Board of Trustees, Ventura County Community College District Let me approach the answer from the position of the court case, "Leticia A," in which a Superior Court judge ruled in favor of lower fees for undocumented Cal State University students. For those residents who are either in the transition of becoming a citizen or for whatever reasons haven't become a citizen, I am in favor of that. "Leticia A." pointed out that there are many, many residents of California who have, for whatever reasons, not sought citizenship.

College fees--In some editions of Thursday's Times, a headline on Page A3 incorrectly identified the university system ordered by a judge to charge in-state fees for undocumented immigrants. The order involved the California State University system.

Free money! Free money for California! The state has a thousand difficult budget choices ahead of it; here's an easy one: Raise community college fees. By a lot. In fact, doubling them sounds about right. Let's pause for the predictable gasps of outrage. Raise fees for this cornerstone of California's Master Plan for Higher Education? Single out the most affordable route to job training and college degrees? Yes.

The 100 or so students gathered inside UCLA's Kerckhoff Hall one recent day clapped and cheered when state Treasurer Phil Angelides repeated his frequent campaign promise to cut student fees at California's public colleges and universities. "Go, Phil!" a young man shouted from the back, as others munched on free pizza provided by the Bruin Democrats, a student group.

With four days to go before the end of the fiscal year, legislative leaders and the governor reached agreement Monday on a state spending plan that they predicted would be in place by the July 1 deadline for the first time in six years. The roughly $131-billion deal would pay back billions the state borrowed from schools in recent years to close budget shortfalls, as well as accelerate repayment of billions of dollars in bonds the state sold to fund transportation and other projects.

The California Post-Secondary Education Commission on Thursday called for a five-year freeze on student fees at the state's public colleges and universities. "For far too long, increases in student fees have been the answer whenever the state finds itself in financial trouble," Howard Welinsky, chair of the commission, said in a statement. During the state's recent budget crisis, fees went up for four straight years in the California State University and University of California systems.

Offering an unexpected election-year gift to 650,000 California students and their parents, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will ask the Legislature to cancel a hefty fee increase scheduled for next year at the state's public colleges and universities, administration officials said Wednesday. The fee-relief proposal comes as Schwarzenegger puts the final touches on the State of the State speech he will deliver next week and his 2006-07 budget.

The economy is rough, state and federal budgets are being cut and college fees are going up. Yet there's one bright spot amid the gloom for high school seniors: The state's Cal Grant program is giving more money this year to students who need financial help to attend a public college or university. The deadline is near, and there's some daunting paperwork. But the grants are worth it, covering all Cal State and UC fees and providing funds in excess of community college fees.

In my opinion, college fees are "tuition" (May 19). Right now I am going through the struggle of being able to afford my college "fees," and the fees continue to rise every year. I had always assumed that the money I have been paying for college was being used for instruction and faculty salaries. My fear is that if we decide to change the word from fees to tuition , we will give the board the liberty to make a considerable increase in the amount that we have to pay now. Will we be subjected to paying both tuition and fees?

About 200 trainee teachers were arrested after three days of violent protests over new college fees, police said. President Kenneth Kaunda told demonstrators in Lusaka earlier this week that the fees were necessary because education services were hard hit by deteriorating economic conditions. Police Inspector-Gen. Henry Mtonga said last week that the trainees at a college in Kabwe, 88 miles north of Lusaka, were arrested for taking part in an illegal violent procession. Police closed Copperbelt University in Kitwe earlier in the week after 48 hours of protests.

Re "He's Huge in the Capitol but Definitely Not Big Man on University Campuses," May 17: I'm glad George Skelton brought up college fees, because this is what you get when people get up in arms about a vehicle fee hike, which, by the way, was former Gov. Pete Wilson's idea in the first place, not former Gov. Gray Davis'. I guess Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's kids won't have to worry about getting into college or paying high tuition fees. But there are a lot of parents out there who struggle to get by and pay for their children's education who will now be hurt by his decisions regarding college fees.

Re "Students Protest Tuition Hikes at Capitol Rally," March 16: As the bottom of California's college hierarchy, community colleges always get the short end of the stick. The governor proposes to divert 7,400 University of California and Cal State admits into our already crowded system. Perhaps the governor should join us during the first week of every semester as we pack into already congested classrooms with the high hopes that we will be added to the full class roster because it is a class we really, really need in order to transfer within two years.