Large Fee Increases Likely for Students : Community colleges: The amount of the hikes remains uncertain because of the state budget impasse.

Community college students in Ventura County may be facing the biggest fee hike in the state’s history to make up for a projected shortfall in state revenue, officials said Thursday.

Ventura, Oxnard and Moorpark colleges begin classes Monday, but officials say they still have no idea how much they will be charging students for courses this year because a state budget has yet to be approved.

Students registering for fall classes are being charged $6 per unit. But Gov. Pete Wilson and others have called for fees to jump as high as $20 per unit to help ease the budget gap, said Chancellor David Mertes, head of the statewide community college system.

“I think that there will be some kind of increase,” Mertes told an audience of about 200 teachers and staff at Ventura College Thursday morning. “We just don’t know how much.”

Mertes said he has recommended an increase of $8 to $10 per unit. It is hoped that the extra money generated by the fee hike would make up for the drop in state dollars, Mertes said. The hike would probably take effect in time for the spring semester, he said.

Mertes said his biggest worry is that state lawmakers will approve a budget that takes the fee-hike revenue away from the colleges to fund other state services. “It would be like a tax on students,” he said.

The Ventura County Community College District is considering a $62.5-million budget this year, hoping for a 2% increase in state and local revenues, said Jeff Marsee, vice chancellor of administrative services.

Under this scenario, the district would only have to kick in $1 million in reserves to avoid laying off any full-time staff or cutting any classes.

But some budget proposals in Sacramento would shrink the college district’s share of state revenues rather than expand it. Gov. Wilson’s proposal calls for a 5% cut in dollars designated for the community college system.

If state lawmakers agree to such cuts, Marsee said the college district will have to make all sorts of painful decisions. He said the district’s budget is already stretched thin because enrollments at all three campuses have swelled faster than the colleges were prepared to handle.

If the state Legislature adopts a 5% cut in community college funding, Marsee projects that the district would lose $2.1 million. “That would be horrible,” he said.

Enrollment this fall continues to climb at all three college community campuses, officials said. About 10,000 students have registered at Ventura, about 6,600 have registered at Oxnard and more than 11,000 have registered at Moorpark. The three colleges are holding walk-in registration through Sept. 4.

Joan Halk, registrar at Ventura College, attributed the increasing enrollment to fee hikes at the California State University and Colleges system and the University of California system. Students who cannot afford the four-year institutions often turn to community colleges, she said.

“Even at $20 a unit, we’re still the better bargain,” she said.

Yet Halk said a small percentage of low-income students might be forced to drop out if fees rise dramatically. Oxnard College, which has a higher number of low-income students than Ventura or Moorpark, would be affected the most, she said.

At Ventura College, Ryan Hickey, 19, voiced considerable concern about the potential threefold hike in fees as he was signing up for classes Thursday afternoon.

“I was going to (Cal State) Northridge, and because the fees were going up there, I came here,” said Hickey, who is putting himself through college. “It’s pretty horrible. How are you supposed to get an education?”

According to Kathy Spencer, an administrative aide in the student services department at Moorpark College, a student at USC, a private school, pays about $6,360 for 12 units per semester. A student at University of California pays about $800 for 12 units per quarter, and a Cal State University student pays about $575 for 12 units per semester. If fees went up to $20 per unit, a state community college student would pay $240 for 12 units per semester.

Tisha Eason, a 21-year-old Ventura College student, was not comforted by the lower numbers. “I’m here already because going to a four-year school is too expensive,” she said. “I think it’s ridiculous that a community college costs so much.”

Eason said she works 25 hours a week to pay for school. She said she might have to prolong her education if fees triple. “I’ll probably just take one class a semester, and be in school for 50 years.”

Spencer said she has noticed a surge in community college interest during economic downturns.

“Traditionally during a recession people come back to school to get job skills,” she said. “We’re still seeing lines around the building.”