Photo courtesy Earlham College

Photo courtesy Earlham College

Students receiving fee waivers at California's 112 community colleges could be required to work towards a clearly identified educational goal and be limited in the number of courses they could take.

These new requirements are among several recommendations made past the California Community Colleges Student Success Task Force charged with bolstering the odds of students reaching their educational goals.

In its draft report the job force took aim at what are known as Lath of Governor's fee waivers, usually called BOG fee waivers, awarded to mostly low-income students. These waivers cover only fees levied on courses, currently $36 per unit (upwardly from $26 concluding year).  A typical course has 3 to 4 units.

There is now no limit on the number of units students may have using the fee waiver, and no requirement that students receiving them pass their courses.

Peter MacDougall, the task force chair and president emeritus of Santa Barbara Community College, said the recommendation is intended non just to continue customs higher students focused on educational goals, but as well to "make sure these funds are spent effectively and wisely."  Students who receive financial back up, he said, "should both accept a articulate goal and make satisfactory progress towards that goal."

About 50 percentage of all California Community College students now study using fee waivers. That effigy has gone up in contempo years, possibly considering of the country'due south tough economical times.  Iv or five years ago, merely nearly 42 to 43 per centum of California Customs College students received them.

The job forcefulness wants to require students receiving fee waivers to "place a degree, certificate, transfer or career advancement goal" and meet "institutional satisfactory progress standards" to remain eligible.

The task forcefulness is also recommending limiting  the number of units covered past the fee waiver to 110.  That's 50 units more than the 60 required to earn an associate caste or to transfer to a four-year university.

MacDougall says he believes the 110-unit of measurement limit is reasonable, because information technology would allow students the equivalent of virtually iv full years of study—enough fourth dimension to switch majors or career certificates.

Fee waivers are available to students who receive certain public assistance benefits, have very low income relative to their household size, or qualify for financial assist according to the Federal Demand Assay.

Recommendations Would Ensure Accountability, Perhaps Save Money

Michelle Siqueiros, executive director of the Campaign for College Opportunity, an advancement group promoting higher access, says she believes the recommendation "makes common sense."

"We want to make certain that students aren't only taking and dropping classes, or taking and failing classes without any repercussions," says Siqueiros. She adds that on the whole, the typhoon report recommendations "provide some much-needed reform in making sure the community college arrangement works effectively in moving students in and through."

The proposed requirements on fee waivers are not new territory for pupil assist, says Siqueiros. Federal Pell Grants and Cal Grants have similar requirements that students work toward an educational goal and meet acceptable academic progress.

The draft recommendation states that adopting and implementing the recommendation would save approximately $89 one thousand thousand per year. Erik Skinner, executive vice chancellor for programs at the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Function, cautions that the effigy may be overstated.

He says it's difficult to define how much savings would be realized past placing limitations on the waivers. If the recommendation is successful, he says, all students would exist working toward an educational goal and therefore would yet be eligible for the waivers, then no savings would exist realized. On the other manus, savings would occur if students non working toward an educational goal begin paying fees to continue their studies.

Skinner adds that the proposed fee waiver requirements would be enforced on the campus level, but details on implementation have non been worked out. The recommendation calls for a "series of active interventions to ensure that students facing difficulties do non lose financial aid eligibility." Again, the specifics of those interventions would need to exist delineated. And the recommendation calls for an appeals process when students face a loss of fee waivers.

MacDougall adds that he doesn't believe the proposed requirements on fee waivers would "lock students in prematurely" to an educational goal they must stick to. Students would exist permitted to switch stated goals, but they would need to have one.

"This is such a fundamental level of planning," says MacDougall. "It does not support a student who is there and says—"I'1000 recreational course taking."

This is the second In a series of EdSource articles on key recommendations of the Educatee Success Job Force.  Next:  Student Success Courses.

The task force is property several public meetings on its recommendations, and will meet again Nov 9th to consider finalizing the draft report. The Community Colleges Board of Governors may human action on the recommendations in January 2012.

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