Community college students have the opportunity to directly effect tuition prices, coming this February.
Proposition 92 is a state initiative to allocate money for community colleges and set tuition prices for California residents at $15 a unit. John Wagner is the president of the Ventura County Federation of College Teachers, and urges students to get registered to vote.
“[Prop 92] could mean over $9 million for our district,” said Wagner. “It’s going to guarantee that colleges get a certain level of funding they were supposed to.”
Proposition 92 secures community college funding that was supposed to be allocated to them from Proposition 98. K-12 has had a greater need for the funds and was able to allocate the portion for the community colleges into K-12.
“K-12 and community colleges got lumped together,” said Wagner. “This proposition would guarantee the level of funding from Prop. 98.”
Proposition 92 could drastically increase community college attendance.
“In 2004 the fees were hiked,” said Jennifer Wonnacott, spokeswoman for Yes on Prop 92. “Three-hundred thousand fewer students enrolled.”
One other important thing is that community college students will not be paying for Prop 92 later.
“[Prop 92] is a small investment in the state budget,” said Wonnacott. “It doesn’t hurt K-12 funding and it doesn’t raise taxes. It’s less than one percent of the budget.”
However, Prop 92 may not be great for all community college students.
“Prop 92 doesn’t really help students,” said Marry Gill, higher education consultant for No on Prop 92. “They are going to reduce fees by $5, and a full time student may save $75, but that doesn’t even cover the cost of one textbook.”
Gill has been in community college financial aid for 35 years and has worked for the state board for community colleges.
“The proposition doesn’t give a new revenue source, and the places they would get cut are the CSU, UC and Cal Grant systems,” said Hill. “The reduced cost for community college will not compare to the increases in Cal State or UC tuition.”
Local officials are concerned because they can also cut local health fire and safety programs, according to Hill.
“The most important thing is registering to vote,” said Wonnacott. “Students should tell everyone they know to register to vote.”
