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Budget Impasse Has Colleges in Limbo : Education: With fee hikes proposed and classes about to start, two-year institutions do not know what to charge students.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

With classes starting next week at 50 of the state’s 107 community colleges and state finances remaining in limbo, students still do not know how much they will be paying in fees.

To help balance the state budget, Gov. Pete Wilson has proposed that general fees be raised from $6 to $20 per unit, with a maximum of $200 per semester. He also wants students who have accumulated 90 or more credit units to pay $112 per unit--the calculated full cost of instruction.

The Legislature has balked at both proposals and in recent days the Administration has hinted that it might settle for smaller fee increases. The outcome will not be known until there is agreement on a 1992-93 state budget.

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In this atmosphere of uncertainty, some two-year colleges are warning students that their charges might increase sharply.

“We are telling students that a state budget has not yet been finalized and we may have to come back and bill them,” said Susie Williams, director of community and media relations for the three-campus Los Rios Community College District in Sacramento.

This information has been included in class schedules mailed to students and is on large signs at campus registration counters.

Other colleges that have mailed or posted similar warnings include Pasadena City College, San Diego City College and Allan Hancock Community College in Santa Maria.

Merry Shelburne, public information officer for Glendale Community College, said students will be billed for the fee differential “only if the impact on the college budget is substantial.”

Trustees of Solano Community College in Suisun City, irked by the absence of an agreement on fees and a budget, have refused to approve a budget for their 12,000-student campus until 60 days after a California budget is approved.

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“We have no idea what state funding will be for education this coming year, what student fees will be implemented or how the state budget will impact Solano Community College,” said Barbara Jones, vice president of the board of trustees. “I feel the governor and the Legislature are holding community college students as hostages.”

Ann Reed, vice chancellor for public affairs in the statewide community college system offices, said: “We’re being inundated with calls from people who want to know: ‘What’s the fee?’ ”

The system’s Board of Governors has authorized Chancellor David Mertes to negotiate a financial package with the governor and Legislature that might include a general fee of $10 per credit unit and a $50-per-unit fee for students who have four-year degrees.

There are more than 1.2 million credit-earning students in the community college system.

Many colleges are proceeding with last year’s fee schedule and assuming that any increases will not take effect until next spring.

“We’re registering students and we’re going to start school on time August 24th,” said Donald Phelps, chancellor of the nine-campus, 117,000-student Los Angeles community college system. “We are anticipating that if new fees are imposed, that they would not be retroactive and probably wouldn’t become effective until the spring semester.”

Legally, the per-unit fee has been $5, not $6, since a $1 surcharge expired June 30. But legislation to continue the surcharge another year is considered likely to pass soon, prompting most colleges to charge students $6 per unit.

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