San Francisco Makes Community College Free to City Residents

The city of San Francisco will allow all city residents to attend the City College of San Francisco, a local community college, for free.

A deal announced Monday between Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor Jane Kim will take $5.4 million a year from Proposition W, a transfer tax on properties that sell for $5 million and above, and use it to pay the college the $46-per-credit fees for all resident students, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Students that have lived in San Francisco for at least a year will be eligible for the free tuition, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The city is hoping that the free tuition will bring students back to the college, which nearly lost its accreditation in 2012 because of governance and fiscal planning problems.

There are no income limitations or phase-outs to the plan, so Kim notes that “even the children of the founders of Facebook” could go to college for free, the Chronicle reported.

The college also gets state funding on a per-pupil basis, so when enrollment declined in recent years, its state funding also declined. It’s possible the city’s plan may help restore that funding if student enrollment increases as a result of the tuition subsidy.

“We have a lot of empty seats,” said Chancellor Susan Lamb, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. “Come back and give us a try.”

“This deal should make City College much more attractive to students and potential students,” Board of Trustees member Rafael Mandelman said. San Francisco will be the first city in the nation to offer free college tuition to all if its residents, the Chronicle noted.

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