Amador County – A member of the Amador Community College Foundation said last week that she wanted to clarify information she has heard regarding in-state tuition and membership to community college districts.

Karen Dickerson, a board member of the Amador Community College Foundation last Friday by e-mail said she had checked fee policy information with the Los Rios District, of which Cosumnes River College is a part. Dickerson said fees are currently $26 per unit for all California residents. International students and non-residents of California pay higher tuition. She said: “There is no distinction in fee structure if you are a resident of any particular annexed or non-annexed district in California.”

Dickerson also checked with several other community college districts and received the same answer. She said: “In other words this is not a reason to not annex to a community college district.”

Frederick E. Harris, Assistant Vice Chancellor, at the California Community College Chancellor’s Office in response to a query by Dickerson said “all California residents pay the same fee at all California Community Colleges.” He wanted “to correct that misconception” that membership in one district and attending a community college in another does not affect fee amounts.

Harris said due to “free flow” requirements “between districts, there is no specific preference for admission provided in statutes or regulations to California residents who live within or outside of a district.” He said: “Only non-residents of California pay a higher fee for tuition,” and “all residents of California pay the same fee, unless they are eligible for the Board of Governor’s waiver of fees due to financial necessity.”

Dickerson said in an interview on TSPN last week, the questions arose of whether “non-residents of the California college district but documented residents of California pay a higher fee to attend the college district in which they are not a resident.”

Dickerson said: “I hear this all the time for the reason Amador should not annex to a community college district.

Dickerson said: “In the last 2 days I have heard people say that the reason we should not annex to a community college district is because our students would then have to pay out-of-district fees to attend any community college other than to the district with which we would be annexed.”

She said “please tell anyone who gives this as a reason not to annex to a community college that it is not true.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.