Free Lunch: CSM pushes "free college"

It was three and a half years ago that the community college Board of Trustees set aside $6.75 million to make college "free".  Of course, very little in life is "free" and unless we are talking about a scenic view or a walk on the beach, being "free" can often diminish the self-perceived value of something as well as one's commitment to apply oneself.  And then there are the perceptions of "fairness".  "You don't have to pay the $50 per credit?"  Here is a look back to 2021 for the origin of "free college".

One also wonders how much advertising is needed for something that is "free"?  Just in the last week, my X feed is absolutely overwhelmed by "CSM is free" ads.  There must be at least a dozen different ones, and they just keep coming.  I'm sure they are not expensive to produce, and the X cost is probably not huge to run them.  The same cannot be said for the glossy mailer that arrived in mailboxes yesterday.  I wonder how much taxpayer money went to print it and mail it?  In the really fine print one reads "Enrollment fee waiver for qualifying San Mateo County residents pursuing a degree certification."  One wonders if the advertising costs exceed the waiver costs?

Comments

[Phinancier]

Some administrator somewhere that is making $150K plus benefits to administer the program is feeling exposed and needs to justify their job. Betcha twenty bucks.

[Margie]

My husband and I both have degrees from a CSU. We attended tuition free in the 1970’s. We both lived at home and worked. The fees were about $250 a semester. A few years after graduation. I went to CCSF for a degree in nursing. That was totally free with no fees.
We paid for our kids to go away to college. It was free for them.
One went to a CSU and one to a UC, so the tuition was a lot less than a private school. They had a lot more fun than we did. We all ended up with good careers and debt free at graduation.

I remember the hundreds of glossy mailers my kids got from colleges all over the country during their junior and senior year of high school.

[Phinancier]

Partially subsidized and free are two different things.

[Joe]

The DJ is covering the "success":

Free college showing success in San Mateo County Community College District

Enrollment increases, district plans for long-term service

With a year of its free college initiative underway, the San Mateo County Community College District is celebrating significant increases in enrollment and equity as it looks to its sustainability going forward.

Since fall 2022, the district has seen a 24% increase in enrollment in student headcount and a total of 26,656 students who have directly benefited from the program and the passage of Senate Bill 893, Vice Chancellor Dr. Aaron McBean said.

SB 893 passed in 2022 authorizing the district to use general funds to pay enrollment fees and other costs for students. McBean reported that the majority of funds dedicated to the initiative are used for covering the state-mandatory $46 per unit enrollment fee for county residents.

Additional funds have been dedicated to providing extra support for students demonstrating financial need, which has totaled 5,189 to date, and contribute to registration, materials and additional fees.

The bill was passed for a five-year pilot period, and the district must submit a report to the department of finance and state Legislature by March 1, 2026, to request an extension “into infinity,” McBean said.

[Joe]

Some budgetary discipline appears to be in the wind from Sacramento:

The Peralta Community College District, which runs four campuses for 32,000 East Bay students, said it could be forced to close at least one of its schools next year when state funding freezes at districts with declining enrollments.

Peralta is one of 10 of the 73 community college districts in California that will become ineligible for annual cost-of-living budget increases from the state beginning in the 2025-26 fiscal year because they are missing at least one of three state-required criteria: enrollment at least as high as in 2018, enough low-income students receiving certain grants, or enough students graduating with an associate’s degree or a certificate in their field of study.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/peralta-community-college-funding-freeze-20149076.php

[Peter Garrison]

It might be a good bet to enroll in a trade school down south and become an electrician or a plumber and help rebuild Pacific Palisades.

That could be a good career move for a 20, 30 year career.