Nonresident students uninformed of fee hike
By Don Clyde and Alex Emslie
The Guardsman
The City College board of trustees passed a resolution Feb 25. to increase nonresident student fees by $4 — to $183 per unit — but did not notify the students affected by the raise.
“Every year state law requires the governing board of each district to establish nonresident tuition fee rates,” Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration Peter Goldstein said.
He said that for the past several years the administration has used methodology resulting in the smallest possible fee increases for nonresident students.
Chancellor Don Griffin and most of the board wanted to postpone a vote on the resolution to allow for student notification until trustee John Rizzo found that the California Education Code requires nonresident fee increases to be posted by Feb. 1.
“We just got an e-mail about some CCSF logo merchandise that students could purchase and we don’t get a district e-mail notifying students that are nonresident? Does this affect you? Does this concern you?” student trustee Josh Nielsen said.
After notification of the Feb. 1 date, Rizzo said he felt obligated to pass the resolution during the meeting. Trustee Steve Ngo said he was concerned that the board may be intentionally violating the law if the resolution was not passed.
Ngo tried to convince the board legal council, Ronald Lee, to find due process policy that would take precedence over the California Education Code before the end of the meeting.
“Students would be up in arms if you did vote on it now but didn’t share the information with the students,” Ryan Vanderpol, president of the Associated Students said to the board. “Maybe you could approve it now, it sounds like law requires you to approve it now, contingent on the fact that there is more communication.”
The resolution passed with a 4-to-2 vote with Nielsen and trustee Milton Marks III opposed. Trustees Steve Jackson and Lawrence Wong were not present for the vote.
“The law is the law,” City College student Maria Solorzano said after the board meeting. “But administration needs to pass along information to students. There has to be more transparency.”
Ngo said it was an important issue and that students should have been notified through some means.
“We need not just to notify but actively engage and have student participation in the decisions that matter, especially when it affects their pocketbook,” he said.
The next board meeting will be held on March 25 at 33 Gough in San Francisco.
Additional outcomes from the board of trustees meeting
> Trustee Lawrence Wong announced that laying of the concrete foundation at the Chinatown/North Beach began Feb. 25.
> A Master Agreement between City College and The Foundation of City College was not signed. The foundation will have its own board meeting on March 16.
> Several Filipino students served by the Asian Pacific American Success Center voiced support for APASS. They felt they didn’t have a chance to speak at the student equity hearings when other Filipino students requested a separate counseling service specific to Filipinos and Pacific Islanders.
> Deena Samii, student coordinator for the City College book loan program, asked for some relief with soaring textbook costs, citing that new editions of textbooks with only minor content changes were not always necessary.