Fee Hikes Raise Hard Questions for District

Things just aren’t the same these days at Coast Community College District’s three campuses.

Student fees for a full load of classes have risen from $60 two years ago to as much as $160--ending what for many was an era when community colleges were practically a free ticket to higher education.

The state’s budget woes precipitated the fee hikes, but they also are forcing educators in Orange County and across California to take a hard look at the mission of community colleges and exactly whom they serve.

Should the colleges be most concerned with preparing recent high school graduates for four-year universities, or should they concentrate on vocational education?

How about the “lifelong learning needs” of retirees and others not interested in earning degrees?

The answers are complicated by the lingering recession and the increasing number of elderly students who live within the boundaries of the district--which includes Coastline Community College in Fountain Valley, Golden West College in Huntington Beach and Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. The district serves those communities as well as Newport Beach, Westminster, Stanton and Seal Beach.

“We offer educational opportunities to several populations,” said Nancy A. Pollard, a district trustee. “It is our responsibility to meet the needs of all populations.”

That will be no easy task, Pollard and others admit, if economic times do not improve and the state’s budget problems continue.

The economic downturn has made it difficult for some vocational students to find and keep jobs. Some have returned to school for training in different skills. Increasingly, they are being joined by older, displaced workers who have enrolled to learn new job skills of their own.

Community colleges also are being flooded by students from local California State University and University of California campuses, where some classes have been cut back.

“When a four-year college or university student can’t get basic classes like speech or algebra, they come here,” Pollard said. “They are overloading us.”

Crowded classes along with the higher fees are forcing some students to stay in college longer.

Most agree that providing instruction that allows students to transfer from a community college to a four-year institution remains a key mission. Another important service is providing vocational training--both for younger students and for people already in the work force, trustees said.

In many ways, the fate of Coast Community College District and other districts rests less in Orange County than in Sacramento, where state officials have had to make deep cuts in all segments of public higher education in order to close California’s massive budget shortfall.

Trustees and school officials urged interested residents to express their concerns over community college funding to lawmakers.

“The legislature and governor (already) hear from us,” Berger said. “It’s the local businessmen and residents they need to hear from.”