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Published on 11/27/1995 All articles from this issue

Foothill and De Anza colleges lower tuition for degree holders

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By Clyde Noel / Town Crier Staff Writer

Students with bachelor's or advanced degrees will no longer be financially discriminated against at Foothill or De Anza colleges. Starting the winter term they will pay the general enrollment fee of $9 a unit - the same as students without a degree.

The action reverses a 1992 decision that upped fees for those already with degrees who still wanted to access community colleges for the occasional class.

Instead of paying $9 a unit at Foothill College, the differential fee was $33 per unit. A student with a degree wanting to brush up on his writing skills had to pay $165, while a student without a degree paid $45. The decision figured in a districtwide enrollment loss of more than 4,000 students.

"We want them back," said Sandra Acebo, vice president of instruction at De Anza College. "We are doing all kinds of innovative marketing and a lot of mailings with special brochures."

Foothill President Bernadine Fong told the Board of Trustees at the Nov. 18 meeting, "We are sending literature to every household. We are advertising aggressively and we are recruiting with De Anza (to bring back students)."

Fong is aware not everyone will come back right away. People are not going to change their lifestyles immediately to come back to school. "We lost students to health studios, language study studios and they won't stop everything to get back in class. It will take time," Fong said.

Fong expects the district to pick up 2,000 more students for the winter term and 3,000 students for the spring term. The Foothill-De Anza district enrollment is tied to the state budget of full time equivalent students (FETES) and an increased enrollment will increase funding from Sacramento.

For the winter quarter, Foothill has added new classes to serve interests of students with degrees. Classes in art, aviation, creative writing, foreign languages, music, physical education and human performance, real estate and travel careers are being offered.

In continuing its advance into the field of Internet education, Foothill College will offer a selection of on-line classes during the winter quarter. Foothill distinguished itself as one of the first community colleges among 106 community colleges statewide to offer Internet education. The on-line classes are identical in content to classes taught on campus. All earn college credits and are university transferable.

Winter quarter registration is under way now by telephone. All students can register in person Dec. 18 through Dec. 20 and Jan. 2 through Jan. 5 at the admissions and records office.

For more information, call 949-7325.