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Glendale Community College looks to entice more out-of-state, international students

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In an attempt to court more international and out-of-state students, the Glendale Community College board of trustees did not raise the price of nonresident tuition, while reducing another fee during a meeting last week.

Trustees voted unanimously to keep the price at $215 per unit for international students and out-of-state students, while trimming the capital-outlay fee from $20 per unit to $16.

That fee is a tax charged to out-of-state and international students who do not pay the same taxes that state residents do for college facilities and maintenance.

“Even though the district could choose to go much higher, we want to serve these individuals and give them an opportunity to come to Glendale Community College and help them build a climate for our institution with our local students,” said David Viar, the college’s superintendent/president.

According to California Education Code section 76140, a community college needs to set its nonresident fee for the upcoming school year, which would be 2018-19, by February.

To do so, college officials had five options from which to choose when assigning the price per CEC regulations, using either local, state or national standards.

Officials could have, for instance, fixed a price using comparisons with contiguous community college districts, or similar states, or they could have used the “expense of education” average for California community colleges.

Trustees chose the contiguous districts option and priced itself significantly lower than a pair of competitors. Los Angeles City College’s rate is set at $242 per unit, while Pasadena City College is at $258.

The board could have raised its price for international and out-of-state students, using the similar-state option to go as high as $424 per unit, but chose the lowest price possible per-unit cost for those students.

The $215 standard is the same as it was during the 2017-18 school year and marks the first time in three years the district did not charge more than the previous school year.

“We’re still a great bargain for the quality of outstanding programs with outstanding faculty and staff,” Armine Hacopian, board president, said. “So please come here [and] attend GCC.”

As for the capital-outlay fee, the price is dropping from $20 per unit during the 2017-18 school year to $16 for the upcoming fall. It’s the first time the fee has dropped in over five years, though in 2016-17, that price was only $10 per unit.

So a nonresident student taking 12 units — the minimum for full-time status — would see a savings of $48 next semester in capital-outlay fee charges.

One issue with reducing the capital-outlay fee is a revenue loss. The board estimates the school will be taking in $58,000 less annually because of the drop.

“We’re hoping that this cut will affect us in a positive way where more students will see the deal we have here, pay less and get a great education,” said Anthony Culpepper, the college’s executive vice president of administrative services.

As of the fall of 2016, the school’s latest totals available for visa students, 713 international students, or 5% of all credit students, were enrolled at Glendale Community College, which marked a significant drop from 782 in 2015.

There were no figures available for out-of-state, noninternational students.

“There’s a commitment from Glendale Community College to welcome in more out-of-state and international students,” Viar said. “We’d love to have more because it only adds to the diversity of the school, and I believe this is a very welcoming campus.”

andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter @campadresports

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