SACRAMENTO –The San Mateo County Community College District would be granted more flexibility to help students experiencing financial hardship meet the cost of attendance – including the authority to waive enrollment fees – under a bill introduced by Senator Josh Becker.
“Increasing access to higher education is life-changing. It is one of the most important things we can do for our residents to ensure economic mobility for our entire community,” said Senator Becker, D-Peninsula. “I’m proud to work with the San Mateo County Community College District on Senate Bill 893.”
“Our students face challenges that keep them from accessing, persisting in and completing at our colleges. Our district works every day to remove barriers – many of which are financial – so that students can focus on their academic career which will lead them to a prosperous professional career,” said Chancellor Michael Claire. “We have developed a number of initiatives, programs and services, including our Promise Scholars Program, which provide assistance with life costs of food and transportation and academic costs of tuition, fees, books and supplies. Our district has the resources to do more for more – if we had the authority to do so. This bill will allow the San Mateo County Community College District to leverage local resources to help local students access a higher education.”
Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Kevin Mullin, D- South San Francisco, and Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, joined Senator Becker as coauthors of SB 893, which provides the community college district the authority to charge students less than $46 per unit required by the state, effectively enabling the district to lower as well as entirely waive enrollment fees for students in need. The bill also allows the district to use its local revenue in the form of “unrestricted funds” to cover enrollment fees, in addition to helping students with other costs related to attending the district’s community colleges, including food, transportation, housing, books, school supplies, student counseling and technology needs.
If the legislation passes, the community college district plans to expand its Promise Scholars Program, the enhanced local version of a statewide program that reduces the financial burden of attending college. Although San Mateo County as a whole is more prosperous than other areas in California, there are major educational and socio-economic gaps in the county. Currently, the community college district can aid 2,000 students of the estimated 6,000 who are eligible for the program in the district’s three colleges. If SB 893 becomes law, the district could make college tuition-free for all 6,000, district leaders said.
The district’s Promise Scholars Program opens doors that students thought were closed to them, participants said.
“I never thought I would come close to being financially stable with college costs without loans. I thought too much about the classes I needed to take for my major,” said Randy Lopez. “Being a Promise Scholar helped me through financial and academic challenges as a full-time student and put my life into focus. It made me a well-rounded student to transition into the university lifestyle.”
Khalid Shatrat, a Promise Scholar at the College of San Mateo in the Fall 2019 cohort, earned an Associate of Science degree in accounting. “I will say the biggest benefit of the Promise Scholars Program is really just understanding the fact that your first two years of education are going to be for free,” he said. “Books are covered, tuition is covered. And, really, regardless of your goal, just getting a quality education from a school like CSM, without really having to pay anything for it is something that's really incredible and it shouldn't be taken for granted.”
Assemblymember Mullin, a long-time education advocate, said, “I’m proud to coauthor SB 893. This measure will lead to thousands of San Mateo County residents gaining access to a free high-quality education from the San Mateo County Community College District. With the state and the college district working together, we can leverage existing local revenues to fund a college education for those most in need.”
Assemblymember Berman said, “Having advocated for students’ basic needs for many years, I know how meaningful this bill will be for our friends, colleagues, and neighbors who are eager to pursue higher education but lack the financial resources to do so. This bill will help thousands more in San Mateo County attend community college for free.”
“SMCCCD would like to thank Senator Becker for his leadership to allow for tuition-free community college in San Mateo County,” said Trustee John Pimentel, who represents the district’s Area 5. “Cañada College, Skyline, and College of San Mateo provide a proven path of upward economic mobility for those in under-resourced communities. However, state law requires community colleges to charge $46 per unit, or about $1,400 a year, tuition for a full-time student. That is a barrier to many working adults who cannot afford such fees. All county residents should be able to affordably complete college or a technical degree which is the most effective and lasting tool to foster broad social equity.
“We don't need to wait for federal or state funding because San Mateo County is blessed with strong property values and stable funding for SMCCCD. This bill systematically allows property owners to support social equity by leveling the economic playing field through free community college.”
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Media Contact: Leslie Guevarra, leslie.guevarra@sen.ca.gov, 415-298-3404