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news
Aiding future
students after Sept. 11 attacks
By Alisha Gomez
On-line Forty-Niner
A new bill, AB
1746, will waive tuition to California community colleges,
the California State University and the University of California
systems for dependents and spouses of those killed in the
Sept. 11 attacks.
Introduced by Assemblywoman Carol Liu, D-La Canada-Flintridge,
the bill requires that the deceased or their family members
were California residents as of Sept. 11, 2001.
"A number of legislators in California support the bill
and Liu has received a lot of support from legislators in
her district," said Catherine Hazelton, legislative aid
to Liu.
The bill will also waive community college tuition for dependents
and spouses of California police officers and firefighters
who died in the line of duty.
"These families, whose losses are enormous, should not
have to bear the compounded burden of paying college tuition
while losing a significant portion of the family income,"
Liu said.
AB 1746 will expand the existing tuition waiver program to
allow the spouses and children of fallen public safety officers
to attend California community colleges tuition-free. Currently,
dependents and spouses of police and firefighters killed in
the line of duty are exempt from paying tuition at the UC
and CSU, but are required to pay tuition to attend a community
college.
"I hope to close this unfortunate loophole in the law
that keeps students from attending community colleges,"
Liu said. "It seems incongruous to tell children of fallen
firefighters that the state will pay for a four-year degree,
but will not pay for them to follow in their late parents'
footsteps by entering a fire technology program at a community
college."
Hazelton said that in terms of where the money would come
from for these people to attend college tuition-free is really
not an issue.
"The number of people that would attend CSUs, UCs, and
community colleges would be so small that the cost would be
absorbed by the system," she said.
She also mentioned that there is no time limit in the bill
for how long a person can take to obtain their degree or program
certificate.
The CSU does not have an official position on the bill yet.
"It seems like a good bill," said Clara Potes-Fellow,
manager of media relations for the Chancellor's Office. "The
CSU has supported similar actions in the past like waiving
the fees for family members of peace officers who died in
action."
However, Potes-Fellow said that usually legislation such as
AB 1746 does not provide the funding for these people who
would attend a CSU tuition free. She noted, as did Hazelton,
that the system would have to financially absorb the funding.
As for other states following such action, Hazelton said,
New York is doing something very similar.
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