Santa Monica College Two-Tiered Tuition Plan Would Be Illegal, State AG Office Says

Students voiced opposition to the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees during public comment on April 3 at a meeting (via YouTube user Hunta)

Charging nearly four times more for in-demand core classes at Santa Monica College is illegal, according to the California attorney general's office.

Santa Monica College's Board of Trustees voted on April 6 to abandon a two-tiered tuition program that would've charged $180 per credit unit for certain classes that fill up quicker, rather than the normal price of $46 per unit.

This week, officials in the Community College Chancellor's Office told the Santa Monica Daily Press they were told by the AG's office the plan would've violated the state's education code. Paul Feist, vice chancellor of communications, said if Santa Monica College tried to move forward with a two-tiered program in the future, they would be vulnerable to legal action from the chancellor's office or other organizations.

California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott had asked the Board of Trustees to hold off on the plan, expressing concerns that the two-tiered tuition program may be illegal. The Board initially planned to move forward despite objections, but in the fallout of the pepper-spraying incident they decided to abandon the two-tiered tuition plan, at least for now.

The idea behind the two-tiered tuition was to make it easier for students to get into classes they needed to take if they paid more money. Students swarmed an April 3rd Board of Trustees meeting to voice opposition, which resulted in at least 30 protesters getting pepper sprayed by campus police. A panel is now investigating the pepper-spraying incident.

When they proposed the idea, they Santa Monica College put forward a 57-page paper detailing why they believed the two-tiered tuition was legal and necessary.

More than $800 million has been slashed from California community colleges in recent years.

Santa Monica College declined to comment to the AP on the matter because they hadn't received an official opinion from the state AG's office.

The California State University system also reportedly has been mulling the implementation of two-tiered tuition.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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Comments

[Ray Reinhard]

07:07 PM on 04/24/2012

Consider these options:

(1) Private for-profit university with no affiliation with SMC. Receives no state funds. Tuition is higher than SMC’s $180/unit cost.

(2) Nonprofit foundation with no affiliation with SMC. Tuition= SMC’s $180/unit cost. Receives NO STATE FUNDS. Pays for itself b/c its cost=revenue. SMC contracts with it to offer course at cost. The transactions are a “wash.”

SMC has no capacity to serve students in line; the other 2 do. Some will leave line if cost is foundation's low tuition, but not at university’s high tuition. When they do, everybody moves up & gets closer to enrolling in course.

Option (2) is essentially SMC’s proposal -- no different than private option already available, except it costs less. And, it costs the state nothing.

EVERYBODY IS BETTER OFF & NO ONE IS WORSE OFF! Students’ line is shorter. Leavers take class sooner & for less than private tuition. No fiscal impact on SMC or the state.

Two-tier tuition redirects state subsidy from students who don’t need it to students who do.

Opponents say 2-tier tuition is “unfair” b/c it lets you buy your way to the front of the line. Not true. It lets you buy your way into new classes that only exist b/c enough students pay full cost. It has no effect on SMC’s capacity or the order of students in the line. It merely shortens the line.

[pinetrale]

03:08 AM on 04/22/2012

Since when have community colleges started charging $180 a credit? Everything is getting "off the hook".

[Sumz54]

04:25 AM on 04/20/2012

Instead of charging more money for important classes (which would only discourage students from taking those classes, and thus keep them from getting degrees, duh), why don't they try a priority registration rewards type system. Like... If you're only one semester away from graduating with an associates, you get priority registration (as in early registration). Or if you're a student with disabilities, you get priority registration. Or if you have a 3.0 or above (which would prevent students who are likely going to fail/blow off classes from taking valuable spots). This is similar to the systems in place at most universities (including mine) - and it really is helpful. Of course we don't do the 3.0 or above thing, but I think it would be a good idea at a community college since there is no admissions process - it would ensure that the students who won't blow off the class get the spots.

[Yacob Zuriaw]

01:01 AM on 05/17/2012

We have that