Community colleges: San Mateo County Community College District: California College Promise.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law requires community college districts to charge students an enrollment fee of $46 per unit per semester. This bill would authorize the San Mateo County Community College District to adopt a policy that uses local unrestricted general funds to provide fee waivers to students with the greatest financial need when other fee waivers are not provided to those students, and would require the policy to include a requirement to prepare a fiscal impact statement, including a 3-year projection of the fiscal impact of the fee waiver on the community college district, as specified. Existing law establishes the California College Promise, to be administered by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law requires the chancellor to distribute funding, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to community college districts to fund colleges that meet prescribed requirements. Existing law authorizes a community college that receives funding under the program to, among other things, waive some or all of the fees for up to 2 academic years for first-time students who are enrolled in 12 or more semester units or the equivalent at the college and complete and submit either a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or a California Dream Act application. This bill would authorize the San Mateo County Community College District to use local unrestricted general funds, in addition to funding received under the California College Promise, to provide assistance to students for the total cost of attendance. The bill would define total cost of attendance for a student attending a community college as including the student's tuition and fees, books and supplies, living expenses, transportation expenses, and any other student expenses used to calculate a student's financial need for purposes of federal Title IV student aid programs. This bill would require the San Mateo County Community College District to use local unrestricted general funds for the purposes of these provisions only for students who reside within the boundary of the community college district. This bill would require the governing board of the San Mateo County Community College District, on or before March 1, 2026, to submit a report to the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges, the Department of Finance, and the appropriate committees of the Legislature on the implementation of these provisions, as specified. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2028, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the San Mateo County Community College District.