California’s new budget also means another, or second, free tuition year at community colleges, starting next spring. To qualify, students must enroll full-time, taking at least 12 units per semester. Only around 20-percent of the 14-hundred students at the Nevada County Sierra College campus have been falling into that category. Executive Dean, Stephanie Ortiz, says she doesn’t know if having one year of free tuition for the 2018-2019 term had any impact…

Ortiz says full-time students are more likely to complete their academic goals…

But tuition, at 46 dollars a unit, is actually the smallest cost students face. Classes for the fall semester at Sierra College begin August 26th. Ortiz expects enrollment will be about the same as it’s been the last few years. She says it will likely take a while before it can be determined if an additional year of free tuition will improve numbers in the future.