by Rose Vega| Features editor| [email protected]

City College nursing student Sophia Fox, like many other students, wasn’t sure how she was going to pay for college.   

“Before I started school, I was just trying to figure it out. I didn’t really have a job at the time,” says Fox. “I was on the student center website [and] it showed my fee before I turned in my financial aid application, and I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna do this.’”

City College is a part of the Los Rios Promise Program, which helps eliminate the cost of tuition for first-time full-time students, according to Gabe Ross, associate vice chancellor of communications and media relations for the Los Rios Community College District.

“We know that for a lot of students—not just in Los Rios but in all community colleges there are financial barriers for students,” says Ross. “The Los Rios Promise is an overarching program that helps to address some of those financial barriers.”

Ross says that the Los Rios Promise Program is a mixture of different federal and state funding programs and scholarships. Included in those is the California college promise grant formerly known as the BOG fee waiver as well as new funding from the state.

“Los Rios Promise is a program that combines all of these supports into one program for students,” says Ross.

There is currently a proposal pending in the California Legislature, AB 2, to extend the first-time full-time free tuition for students to a second year. There is also another bill that would help with expenses beyond tuition, according to Ross, called SB 291.

“The state chancellor’s office is proposing an expansion of Cal grants to give more state financial aid to community college students,” says Ross.

The bill hasn’t become law yet, but if it does, Ross says the money would help pay for things such as books, rent and other costs besides tuition.

“We also know that there are significant barriers for many students beyond tuition. AB 2, the California College Promise [and] the Los Rios Promise Program don’t universally cover the cost of books,” says Ross. “They don’t cover the cost of rent or other living expenses that students need to pay while there going to school full time. We know that often the biggest financial barriers are apart from tuition. This by no means a solution to all the challenges that students face towards affordability but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.”

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“You have students who are afraid to take certain classes because they just don’t think they’re gonna have enough money for a book,” says Williams. “Some students fail classes because they don’t have money for the book.”

Fox says she felt the same way when she started going to City College.  

“I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be if I didn’t get a job,” says Fox.“I would probably have to quit school because I wasn’t aware of any aid I was able to get for my books.”

Williams says he wished he’d known about these programs when he decided to go back to college.

“When I knew I was going back to school, I automatically put myself in a financial situation that I could handle as a student,” says Williams. “I downsized, I started renting a room, I started taking different precautions like make sure I get the student sticker so that I could ride the bus for free and the train for free.”

Williams says that, federal work study, getting loans and financial aid also helped him a lot. He thinks that AB 2 would be beneficial for students but worries that if community college was completely free, students wouldn’t take it seriously.

“Free tuition would be ideal,” says Williams. “But from a psychological standpoint, sometimes when things are free, people don’t tend to take them serious. Like if I know I have to pay for it, then I’m gonna make sure that I show up.”  

Williams feels that if free tuition was a reality that it would need to be designed to ensure that students don’t take advantage of it.

“Any time you don’t have to worry about financial situations it makes it easier for you to study and focus on exams and quizzes,” Williams says. “It makes you a better student because you don’t have to focus on ‘How am I going to pay my rent?’”  

To learn more information about the Los Rios promise program, see https://promise.losrios.edu/ and for information about SB 291, see  truecollegecost.com.