New bill could prompt free tuition at West Valley and Mission community colleges

As enrollment rates for community colleges across California continue to decline, one state legislator is looking to make college free for some Silicon Valley students.

Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) has introduced Senate Bill 629, which would waive the cost of tuition for students living in the West Valley-Mission Community College district. Current state law requires community colleges to charge at least $46 per unit per semester, meaning the governor would have to sign off on tuition waivers before it goes into effect — which could be as soon as January 2024.

“I think the underlying motivation is anything we can do to offset the high cost of living, which is frankly hurting most people — not all — but most people in our district and it’s certainly having a really challenging effect on students,” Cortese said. “We’ve talked a lot about debt forgiveness at the state and national level, but this is kind of the other side of it.”

If passed, the district would become the second in the state to waive tuition. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed off on a pilot program that runs through July 1, 2028 and uses local funds to reduce or waive tuition for schools in the San Mateo Community College District.

The program went into effect Jan. 1.

Cortese’s bill comes at a time when community college enrollment across the state reached a 30-year low for the 2021-22 school year, according to data from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

“We’re getting qualified high school students that announce that they’re going into the community college system in April and May and by the time enrollment starts they have to make decisions in terms of their basic sustenance and survivability and then they don’t enroll,” Cortese added.

West Valley-Mission Community College District Chancellor Bradley Davis said the district is “uniquely situated” to waive tuition since they receive all their funding from local property taxes. Last year, the district’s board found a way to balance its budget without collecting tuition or other fees — making the idea feasible in the first place.

“This is all about eliminating barriers that stand in front of our students’ education and dreams and making sure that we are not leaving any students on the sidelines because they lack the funds to attend community college,” Davis said.

While West Valley-Mission Community College District needs the state to sign off on its fee waivers, Davis said the district has already started taking other “unprecedented” steps to remove potential barriers by waiving childcare costs, fees associated with physical and mental health services and parking fees.

“In our district it’s really important for us to do everything we can to remove barriers that stand in front of our students educational dreams,” Davis said.

Kalle Glutting, who is a sophomore at West Valley and president of the student government, will most likely be moving on to a four year university by the time the fee waivers go into effect. However, he said he supports the plan because it “decreases barriers to entry for college for all sorts of students, but especially students who have been historically disadvantaged.”