Victory: Free City agreement reached!

Posted on February 7, 2017 by AFT 2121

Victory! Over the weekend Jane Kim and Mayor Lee’s office have agreed on a plan to make City College free for ALL San Franciscans starting in the Fall 2017 semester. This is what happens when we organize and work together with our colleagues, our students, and our community allies!

Here’s what we’ve learned that Free City will do so far:

Cover tuition fees for ALL San Francisco residents.
San Franciscans already receiving financial aid will be eligible for additional assistance in the form of books and transportation vouchers. Students taking between 6 and 11 units can receive an additional $200 each year. Students taking 12 or more units can receive an additional $500 each year.
The Mayor’s will allow for up to a 20% increase in enrollment in next year’s budget. This is expected to become part of the yearly roll-over when budgeting for the program in future years.

And though this compromise is less than what our students deserve, especially for some of our undocumented, low-income students, and for out-of-SF workers, it is also, undoubtedly, significantly MORE than any other tuition-free community college program in the nation. For now we should celebrate what we’ve accomplished and stay tuned for ways to continue to build on these critical first steps.

Our next step is to push the college to enact Free City for the Fall 2017 semester. Moving forward sooner rather than later opens the door for getting a significant chunk of the program off the ground and a tangible impact on enrollment NOW!

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