CAMARILLO : Retirees Cancel College Classes

Residents at Camarillo’s Leisure Village, the largest retirement enclave in Ventura County, have decided to cancel community college classes at the village, saying a tuition increase has made the courses too expensive for them.

Beginning in January, students who have a bachelor’s degree will pay $50 per unit instead of the $6 per unit they are charged now. The state Legislature approved the tuition increase in the fall, and it becomes effective next month.

Next week, the four classes offered by Oxnard College at Leisure Village will be canceled, said Genevieve Leventhal, education coordinator for the retirement community. Leventhal said the resident board of directors voted to discontinue the classes, which are taught on the village grounds.

About 160 residents at the village take the three-unit classes, Leventhal said, and about 60% of those seniors have bachelor’s degrees and would be unfairly penalized, she said.

Leventhal said she has been trying to persuade officials at the Ventura County Community College District to waive the $50-per-unit fee for senior citizens.

But college officials say they can’t do anything about the fee hikes.

“The law is very specific about who can be waived, and there is no provision for senior citizens,” said Timothy Hirschberg, a college district trustee. “The state is tying our hands . . . the colleges don’t have any discretion at all.”

Hirschberg conceded that it is nearly impossible to enforce the new law because the community college district does not have the resources to check whether a student has a bachelor’s degree. “It’s very difficult to police,” he said.