STATE MANDATE RAISES STUDENT ENROLLMENT FEES FOR COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT TO $18

        Student enrollment fees have increased more than 60 percent – from $11 a unit to $18 a unit – for Coast Community College District students as a result of the State budget package approved by the Legislature last week and signed by the Governor on Saturday. The fee increase is now in effect for community college students throughout California beginning with the fall 2003 semester, which begins August 25 for Coast Community College District students.

        
         For a full time student taking 15 units, the enrollment fee increase will add another $105 to the cost of attending a community college this semester. That is an increase from $165 a semester to $270.

        Student enrollment fees at California community colleges are set at the State level by the Legislature, and are the same at all 108 community colleges in the state. Local colleges will not keep the revenue generated by the fee increase. Instead, the additional revenue must be sent back to the State’s General Fund to help offset a $38 billion state budget shortfall.

        Students at Orange Coast College, Golden West College and Coastline Community College who have already enrolled and paid $11-per-unit fees for the fall semester will be billed for the increase in fees. Students enrolling in classes starting today will be charged $18 per unit.

        Statewide, the 2003-04 State Budget that went into effect Saturday cut community college funding by approximately 9.4 percent, or $254 million.