Fee Hike for Foreign Students Is Rejected

After debating the value of foreign students to Ventura County’s three community colleges, trustees have unanimously decided not to increase tuition for the district’s approximately 245 foreign students.

Linda Calderon, an international student specialist at Oxnard College who spoke on behalf of foreign students at a board of trustees meeting Tuesday, said she was relieved with the decision not to increase fees.

She added, however, that the Ventura County Community College District board should have considered lowering the rates $4 per unit to be competitive with the district’s nearest rival, the Santa Barbara Community College District. Foreign students at Santa Barbara City College pay $124 a unit.

Of that, $114 goes toward tuition and a $10 surcharge is levied to cover district construction costs.

Foreign students in Ventura County will continue to pay $114 per unit for tuition along with a $14 surcharge. Also, foreign students must pay the standard $13 per unit tuition charged to California residents. That means a foreign student’s tuition for a typical three-unit class is at least $423.

Because foreign students do not pay California property taxes, which fund the district, some trustees said the higher rates for nonresidents are justified.

“I feel we have to publicly acknowledge the concerns of the taxpayers,” Trustee Norm Nagel said. “The taxpayers of California are subsidizing foreign students.”

But Calderon disagreed.

“[The trustees] have stated that it takes $121 [per unit] to educate a student and foreign students are currently paying $141 per unit,” she said. “So how are we subsidizing them?”

Trustee Pete Tafoya agreed, saying foreign students contribute by paying sales taxes, investing in the U.S. economy and spreading goodwill toward the United States in their home countries.

Also, Calderon added, when foreign students work in the United States most of them pay state and federal income taxes.