Coastline Community College offers to cover tuition, books, fees for first year

With a growing number of community colleges offering free tuition for the first year, Coastline Community College has upped the ante – it’s offering to also cover out-of-pocket fees such as for parking and up to $1,000 for textbooks.

The offer is limited to high school graduates from the Newport-Mesa, Huntington Beach and Garden Grove districts on a first-come basis, with a $300,000 commitment for each of the next three years by the Coastline Community College Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the college.

For the average student, the offer translates to $1,500 in tuition and fees, and up to $1,000 more to cover textbooks during the first year, along with additional counseling and support, Coastline officials said.

“Whatever is left that they cannot afford, we will help them,” said Mariam Khosravani, the foundation’s executive director. “We want to make sure every student can go to college.”

Alyssa Leones, who is going into her second year at Coastline, said she wished the program had been available her first year.

“I got a lot of scholarships but when it came to books, I didn’t get any book vouchers due to my parents’ income,” said Leones, who saved money on some textbooks by renting them but still had to buy others, including a $200 science textbook.

Like other California community colleges, most Coastline students have tuition already covered by a California Community Colleges Board of Governors’ fee waiver.

About 20 percent of Coastline students attend classes at one of four Orange County campuses. The rest are enrolled in programs online or through telecourse and correspondence classes, said Aeron Zentner, a Coastline dean.

Other districts that offer at least some students a tuition-free year include Santa Ana College, which last year launched a program for Santa Ana Unified School District students.

At Coastline, in return for the financial help, students must perform a minimum of 20 hours of community service.

“We want to make sure the students don’t just receive but give back to the community,” Khosravani said.