Laney and sister colleges to waive tuition, fees again

The Laney program, called Spring is Free, will utilize leftover funding from the federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund to pay for the free semester.

Laney College in downtown Oakland and its sister community colleges in the East Bay will waive tuition and fees again in the coming spring semester, continuing a program that began last year to ease the financial pressures on students after the COVID-19 lockdown.

The Laney program, called Spring is Free, was announced this week. It will utilize leftover funding from the federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund to pay for the free semester, with additional funding from a statewide COVID-19 grant. The program, introduced last August as Fall is Free, is intended to offset financial hardships caused by the pandemic, the rising cost of housing in the Bay Area and the escalating cost of living exacerbated by inflation.

All California residents are eligible, as are undocumented students who qualify for the California Dream Act.

For those who qualify, the savings amount to $46 per class unit plus $110 in combined savings, according to a fact sheet on the school web site. That includes free parking and an AC transit pass for students taking at least six units.

Laney is the flagship school of the Peralta Community College District, which serves 30,000 students a year in Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Piedmont and Oakland.

All four colleges in the district — Laney, Berkeley City College, College of Alameda and Merritt College — offered free tuition and/or $500 grants to students for the fall semester, and are waiving fees for the spring, along with Laney. College of Alameda is even offering a $500 bonus.

When the free program was first offered at Laney, 9,700 students enrolled, a 15% increase over the previous fall semester. Students also received 12,000 free meals on campus, and 1,450 laptop computers on loan.

“As a result of our Fall is Free offer, 18% more students have applied for financial aid, Latinx students have increased by 22%, African-American students by 33% and Asian Pacific Islander students increasing by nearly 9%,” said Laney President Dr. Rudy Besikof. “I think those things tell the story of the impact more than anything.”

Registration for the spring semester began this week. Students who have already paid for the spring semester will be issued refunds. Classes start Jan. 23.

First opened as a trade school in 1927, Laney stretches across 60 acres near both the Oakland Museum of California and Lake Merritt.