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# Lowdown at SMC RECESS: College students to pay less
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/wellers-defense-on-prowl/
- Published: 2006-11-10T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T22:04:38.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Calif. has one of lowest college tuitions in country*

SMC — The more than 29,000 students here should be pleasantly surprised to see their next tuition bill.

Tuition will drop in the state’s community colleges, from $26 to $20 a unit, saving the average full-time student $72 a semester.

With registration for winter and spring semester fast approaching, the news that tuition is finally decreasing — after students’ bank accounts took a hit a few years ago when fees more than doubled — brought smiles across campus at Santa Monica College.

“Thank god,”said Garrett Stokes,a sociology student who has attended SMC since 2004.

The new tuition was set through educational bill A.B. 1802, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed this summer, affecting 2.5 million students at 109 community colleges statewide. Enrollment is projected to jump at Santa Monica College, as education becomes more accessible and affordable.

“We’re always grateful for any approach to make it easier for students to enroll,” said SMC Board of Trustees Chairwoman Nancy Greenstein.

Students at the state’s community colleges took a hit in recent years, after tuition jumped from $11 in the spring of 2003 to $18 in the following fall semester. The colleges were adversely affected again when fees spiked to $26 in the fall of 2004, according to Ron Owens, spokesman for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

It was a difficult time for students like Stokes, who had started at SMC around the time the latter of the two tuition increases took place. The dent in his bank account forced him to be creative with his disposable income, including being selective with which textbooks to purchase.

“We have other bills to worry about,” Stokes said on Thursday at the SMC campus.“It was crazy and really hard to budget.”

Even at $26 a unit, California is still considered the home of cheap community college tuition.

Nationwide, public community college tuition fees rose an average of $90, or 4.1 percent, this school year over last year, according to a study by the College Board.

Illinois community college students pay an average of $67 per credit/hour — the equivalent of a unit in California — bringing the semester total for an average full-time student to $1,005 a semester.

“Our tuition has been on the rise,” said Bruce Bennett, assistant director of system finances for Illinois Community College Board.“A lot of it is mainly because the state funding for community colleges has decreased over five years.”

Massachusetts community college tuition is on par with California. Students there pay between $20 and $26, depending on the community college.

The drop in fees would help SMC reach its enrollment target number, which the state uses when deciding the amount of funding community colleges receive. The schools are guaranteed a level of funding if they reach their full-time equivalent enrollment target, which in SMC’s case is 21,000, said Randal Lawson, executive vice president of SMC.

SMC will not know whether it met its target number until the end of this school year.

The reduction in fees shows students that when times are good,the state will take measures that benefit community college students, like making tuition more affordable, Lawson said.

“It sends a message to students that community college education is affordable and it reminds them that the state and college do attempt to keep that cost down to allow access to higher education,” Lawson said.

A.B. 1802 received bipartisan support from both the Democratic-controlled legislature and Republican governor, Owens said. The fee reduction is meant to help Californians to have access to quality and affordable education.

“Basically, the legislature and governor are investing into the current and future citizens of our state,” Owens said. “They wanted to eliminate higher education barriers, ensuring students have access as well as the resources to go to college.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 10, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/111006.pdf?ref=smdp.com)