Skyline students were confronted with many new changes at the beginning of this fall semester. From the ongoing construction and related parking shortage to the new smoke-free policy, students juggled many distractions along with their class schedules.
Lost in this entire ruckus was the enrollment fee hike mandated by the state. Because the change took place during summer break, there was no easy way for Skyline College to inform fall students of the imminent rate increase.
Despite some bill notices being sent out to students who had prepaid the old fees and a handful of online announcements, many students started the fall semester with little to no knowledge of the fee increase.
Due to the state budget crisis that occurred earlier this summer, it had seemed likely that there would be major cuts in education but it wasn’t until the budget passed in late July that community colleges learned of the exact financial impact to their budgets and subsequent fees.
Enrollment fees increased 30% from $20 to $26 per unit in a statewide mandate that affected all California community colleges.
The irony, according to district spokeswoman Barbara Christensen, was that “the fee used to be about $26 and went down to $20 a few years ago. We never know [about fee changes]…I would like to see some kind of system where we are given advance notice, like a set cost of living increase.”
This current lack of advance notification was distinctly reflected by the confusion some students exhibited when asked about the fee hike. Full-time Skyline student Maria Climaco never learned what the exact fee increase was even though she has already paid her enrollment fees. “I still don’t know exactly how much they went up,” she said.
When asked if she learned about the fee hike from Skyline College or the school district, Climaco replied, “Not really, no. I never saw anything specific. I just knew about overall fee increases for all community colleges and education in California. I wasn’t really aware of the actual effect.”
Sandra Iber, Director of College Development, Marketing & PR at Skyline said “The fee hike happened after the state budget passed, so obviously it was late in the summer when not many students were on campus.” She recommended that students refer to the college website for more information on this issue as well as some tips on financial aid.
Some students were informed of the fee hike in a timely manner when they were sent bills for the new enrollment amount, but this only applied to those who had already paid for the fall semester. Other students had no idea until they logged into WebSMART, where three innocuous sentences addressing the fee increase were posted on the registration page:
“The California State Legislature and the Governor have approved a new state budget that increases enrollment fees at the state’s community colleges. Enrollment fees are now $26 per unit (a typical 3-unit class is now $78). We are required to collect these fees from all students enrolling in Fall Semester 2009 classes – including those who have enrolled and already paid the old fee.”
According to Christensen, Director of Community and Government Relations for the San Mateo Community College District, this fall saw the largest amount of financial aid ever with more than $1.25 million distributed within the district. Additionally, students received about the same amount, approximately $1.28 million, in Board of Governors waivers so far this year.
“Normally there is a bit of retraction when fees go up. But enrollment is up 12.5% across the district so that is encouraging news,” said Christensen. “During these times, students need to be on their toes to take advantage of all opportunities.”
