The course fees for January intersession and summer session have shifted to almost complete self-support, bringing changes in how fees are charged for the courses, as well.
Self-supported courses receive no funding from the state, leaving the fees entirely to students, where state-supported courses are partially paid for by the state.
Last year, the summer session fees for an undergraduate totaled $893 including an $8 fee for an ID card and an Associated Students “student fee,” said Debra Barger, dean of the Center for Regional and Continuing Education. The fees allowed students to take up to six units.
This year the course fees for the fall 2009 session are $175 per unit, according to an e-mailed statement from RCE Marketing Director Joe Picard. Those fees could go up by summer.
“Effective January 2010, those fees are expected to increase in order to cover the costs of providing these additional courses and services that students need to make progress toward their goal of degree completion,” said Picard in the e-mail.
If a student were to take six units during the upcoming intersession, the total would come to at least $1,050.
“The great value is you get what you pay for in the sense of, if you only want to take three units, you only pay per unit,” Barger said.
Taking six units would mean the cost would rise, but taking fewer than six units would be cheaper than last year, she said.
Federal financial aid will still be provided to those who are eligible, but state grants will not be provided because they only apply to state-supported courses.
RCE is proposing to set up a fund to mitigate the loss of state grants for students who would otherwise be eligible.
“What we have proposed is a separate scholarship amount of money — the same kind of concept that the state does — to say that when there’s a fee increase that a portion of that fee increase is always earmarked to fund financial aid,” Barger said.
Some students, such as sophomore pre-nusring major Kinsey Kelly, aren’t happy about the continued fee increases and are worried it will affect their ability to take classes.
“I think that it needs to be more known, because I’ve talked to a lot of people who really, really need intersession classes and who can’t do them because they don’t have the money for them,” Kelly said.
This isn’t the first time this kind of change has occurred, Barger said.
In 2002, Chico State made the first conversion from self-support to state-support. Between 2002 and 2008 Chico returned once to self-support before bringing back state-support courses.
“It’s drastic every time it changes because there’s not a lot of lead time,” Barger said. “We’re trying to do a good job of communicating in advance about what the conditions are for summer 2010 and to build a schedule to meet students’ needs.”
Anthony Siino can be reached at
asiino@theorion.com
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