Free City tuition deal may live on
College losing money even with increase in student enrollment
More than 4,000 new students have enrolled in City College of San Francisco since all courses became free for city residents last year.
The influx is far short of where enrollment stood before City College’s five-year accreditation crisis began in 2012, and the college has so far lost money on the underfunded, two-year Free City deal.
But the gratis education is wildly popular, especially with students. And now that Free City is set to expire in June, students and faculty are working hard to push forward a City Hall proposal to enshrine the no-cost classes for two more decades, through 2040, and fully fund it so the cash-strapped college doesn’t have to.
“It’s good for students. Getting your education shouldn’t be a (financial) death sentence,” said San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim, who wants to amend the city charter to establish a long-term Free City College Fund.
Student Win-Mon Kyi says she’s saved $431 this semester alone, taking Spanish,
geography, and an independent study class, now that she’s completed her major requirements in ethnic studies. Although she’ll be transferring to San Francisco State University next year, she said her brother also benefits because he’s a City College student, while her parents, who run a pizza restaurant in the city’s Mission District, want to brush up on their culinary and horticulture skills.
“It’s so essential,” said Kyi, who joined the student-faculty Free City Coalition. She’s met with students to drum up support, helped hone the language of the new proposal, and talked with other city supervisors to get them on board.
Under Kim’s proposal, the city would place $15 million into the college fund in 2020, $15.7 million the next year, and $16.4 million the following year. Beyond that is unclear, but the city could suspend required increases in any year with a budget deficit of at least $200 million.
On Monday, the rules committee of the Board of Supervisors will vote on whether to send the proposal to the full board, which would then decide whether to place it on the November ballot for voter consideration.
The proposal, upped from 10 to 20 years by Supervisor Norman Yee, nearly died on Wednesday. That’s when rules committee Chairman Ahsha Safaí objected, calling it a “significant set-aside.” San Francisco voters have approved a nonbinding city policy limiting set-asides because they tie up money that could otherwise be used as needed.
But Safaí reversed his vote, The Chronicle has learned, after receiving assurances that a trash ordinance he supports would move forward. The ordinance would track how well businesses are following the city’s trash separation law, and require remedies if they fail an audit.
Safaí did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the Free City proposal identifies no funding source. But money for the current Free City — a two-year, $11.2 million program that began in fall 2017 — comes from Prop. W, a voter-approved tax on San Francisco properties that sell for at least $5 million.
A portion of the tax is used to buy out the $46-a-credit fee paid by most students. City College was already free to very low-income students. So the program gives them grants of $200 to $500 to cover textbooks and other costs of attending college.
Part of the motivation for Free City in 2016 was that City College — one of the nation’s largest community colleges in 2012 — had lost a quarter of its students, more than 20,000 people, largely due to its struggle to retain accreditation. An agency threatened for five years to shut it down on financial and managerial grounds.
Today, about 63,000 fulland part-time students attend City College, compared with 83,400 in spring 2012.
Despite hopes, City College has lost money on the Free City deal — about $5 million over the two years of the program, said City College trustee John Rizzo.
But the new proposal would give the college more than three times what the current program provides each year.
“I favor an extension of the program because it works,” Rizzo said, noting the national student debt crisis. “I’m a believer in free tuition for college.”
So is Alex Lu, a psychology student who said he wouldn’t be attending City College if the classes weren’t free.
“That’s why I’m here,” said Lu, who likes the idea of extending Free City because “San Francisco is really expensive. Free City helps people who can’t afford to go to San Francisco State.”
Ryland Tom, a political science student who lives in San Francisco, called the possibility of an extension “amazing. I think that’s where our taxpayer money should be going,” although he pointed out that it’s easy for students to simply say they live in San Francisco and use a relative’s address to get the benefit.
“The program needs to be better regulated,” he said.
The college also fails to require students to exhaust all other sources of funding, such as Cal Grants and federal Pell grants — as required under a memorandum of understanding between the city and the college trustees — before tapping into the Free City money, according to the city’s Department of Children, Youth and Their Families, which handles the program and reimburses
“Free City is a tremendous idea, but the legislation was super flawed from the start.” Barbara Ann Hassid, interested San Francisco taxpayer and program critic
the college.
College officials say they encourage students to apply for college grants with signs, emails and in person.
Kyi, the student working to help pass the Free City extension, hasn’t heeded the encouragement.
“I think students would need support to apply,” she said, noting that the applications are complicated and cumbersome. “That component just needs more energy on it” from the college.
The fact that students don’t always apply first for other grants is a big reason why Barbara Ann Hassid, a city taxpayer with an active interest in City College politics, opposes extending Free City.
“Before dipping into city funds, students are required to enroll in federal financial aid,” she said. “That’s in the MOU. Free City is a tremendous idea, but the legislation was super flawed from the start.”
Students are not unanimous in their support.
“I don’t understand the point of Free City. The fees weren’t much — it’s the textbooks that are expensive,” said a 19-year-old student from San Francisco.
But she wouldn’t give her name. “I feel like a lot of people like Free City,” she explained. “I don’t want them to come after me.”