By Lev Farris Goldenberg
Jing Li does not benefit from Free City. As an international student, they do not have access to the free tuition program that covers only San Franciscans and California residents.
But that will not stop Li from advocating for others to receive support from Free City, as they did on Oct. 10 at the Free City Oversight Committee meeting. Li and other students gave public comments to advocate for protecting and strengthening the program.
“Students are going through immense stress right now — they are facing xenophobia and fear-mongering,” Li told the committee. “So what are we doing for City College and the City of SF to protect and support our students?”
A New Deal
Li and Gauri Santhosh of CCSF Students 4 Justice presented a draft of a renegotiated Memorandum of Understanding between City College and the Mayor’s office.
To review the recommendations, committee chair and City College trustee Alan Wong proposed the creation of an MOU subcommittee. The committee’s goal, Wong said, is to have budget and MOU recommendations for the City by their next meeting, on Dec. 5.
Advocates of Free City say renegotiating the MOU with Mayor Daniel Lurie is critical to guaranteeing the program’s future. In 2024, former Mayor London Breed slashed funding in half, effectively reneging on the original MOU signed in 2019.
Students 4 Justice recommended reinforcing a clause that calls for yearly funding obligations of $16.4 million (plus adjustments for inflation) for fiscal years 2026-29. Lurie’s 2025 City budget appropriated $9.3 million for the 2025-26 school year, and recommended cutting that to $7.15 million in 2026.
The students also called for a renegotiated MOU to expand the program to cover additional education-related expenses beyond the Free City cash grant — which provides qualifying students with $46 for each enrolled credit — to include “previous tuition debt forgiveness, transportation, food, housing, childcare, scholarship, health, web, and student activity fees.”
Li and Santhosh cited multiple students in their network who had hundreds of dollars in student debt, which prevented them from returning to City College. They recommended striking the MOU clause that calls for students to repay the $46 per enrolled credit unit should they have to drop a class.
According to Vice Chancellor Lisa Cooper Wilkins, between the 2023 fall semester and the 2025 fall semester, 1,796 students reenrolled after their debt was repaid, including 445 in the current semester.
Li and Santhosh also called for a new MOU to extend Free City to undocumented students, regardless of California residency, and international students.
Program Pulse Check
Kelley Karandjeff of the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges presented the Free City College Program Annual Report for 2024-25. According to Karandjeff, the findings of the report support the students’ demands.
The report shows the 2024-25 school year saw over 18,500 applications to the Free City program. Among eligible students, 93 percent took advantage of Free City.
According to Karandjeff, the program is trending upward, with increased participation every year since 2021-22. In 2024-25, 32,007 students benefited from Free City, nearly reaching pre-pandemic levels of participation.
Last year also saw an increase in students who received the Free City cash grant, which benefits economically disadvantaged participants. Those cash grants have to be repaid if students drop classes after the deadline.
“The Free City repayment requirement may deter participants’ re-enrollment,” Karandjeff said. “The more classes a Free City student dropped, the less likely they were to return the next term.”
She contrasted this with non-Free City students, whose return rate stayed relatively consistent regardless of the number of units they dropped. Based on the report’s findings, Karadjeff seconded Students 4 Justice’s call to eliminate the repayment requirement.
The committee also discussed the level of funding to request for 2026, and planned to consult with student advocates. A Free City audit report is slated to be finished by the end of October.
District 1 Supervisor and Oversight Committee member Connie Chan — not in attendance at the Oct. 10 meeting — has stated that Free City audit findings will be essential to presenting a strong funding case to the city.
“Our goal is not to get caught as we were last year … unprepared,” said English professor and committee member Alisa Messer. “It feels important to get ahead of next year.”
Patrick West of SFUSD noted that the committee was missing a representative from the mayor’s office, who in the past has served as co-chair. Mayor Lurie has not yet appointed someone to fill the role.