Fees must go up and politicians must invest more money in community colleges if the system of two-year schools is to remain California's largest gateway to higher education, a study released Tuesday concludes.

In an annual competition for funding, the state's 108 community colleges almost always lose out to the prestige of the University of California and California State University, and to the political clout of K-12 public schools, says Patrick J. Murphy, author of "Financing California's Community Colleges," a yearlong study paid for by the nonprofit Public Policy Institute of California.

Murphy also concludes that financial support for community colleges ranks near the bottom compared to other states where students pay higher tuition and the two-year schools aren't forced to compete for funds with K-12.

The colleges -- which serve nearly 3 million students -- are shortchanged in spite of a mission that includes preparing high school graduates for transfer to four-year universities, retraining laid-off and displaced workers and training welfare recipients for jobs, Murphy asserts.

"In terms of education priorities in California, the community colleges are overlooked and maybe even neglected from a financial standpoint," said Murphy, director of the Leo T. McCarthy Center at the University of San Francisco.

"There are conscious decisions made each year that have made all other segments of education a higher priority," he said.

Murphy's recommendations mirror several of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget ideas for community colleges, including higher fees. His study came out on the same day that community college advocates expressed fears that Schwarzenegger's push to raise fees by 44 percent will keep thousands of students out of the colleges.

One critical solution, concludes Murphy, is to ask students to pay more for their community college education. Right now, community college students pay roughly 5 percent of what the state estimates it costs to educate them.

Murphy says higher fees would bring millions more to the schools and allow students to qualify for federal financial aid -- the same argument the Schwarzenegger administration is making in its bid to raise fees to $26 per unit from $18.

California community college students pay the lowest fees in the nation, even after last year's hike to $18 from $11 per unit. The fees are so low that federal law prevents students from getting the maximum $4,000 annual Pell Grant awards.

"When I say raise fees, I don't mean that the government should then take away general fund support with the other hand," said Murphy, who didn't recommend how much fees should go up. "But with fees so low now, we are leaving federal money on the table."

Community college officials say, however, that California should not abandon its history of extremely low fees.

Instead, argues Robert Turnage, vice chancellor for fiscal policy, "The governor should use his persuasive powers and relationships in Washington. We think we should lobby the federal government to change its formula so that we don't have to raise our students' fees 44 percent."

That approach sounds more palatable to a student like Desirree-Michelle Abshire, who says her middle-income status would likely keep her from getting federal help even though she has worked three jobs to pay for school and living expenses.

"My big worry is that there has been no face put on the middle people, who aren't impoverished or well-off, and what would happen to us," says Abshire, a San Francisco City College student and member of the community college Board of Governors.

Murphy's other major conclusion -- that state policy-makers should give community colleges their legal share of taxpayer dollars -- will bolster an argument that college administrators have been making for years. That share is the nearly 11 percent chunk of education funds guaranteed to community colleges under Proposition 98 -- the voter-approved initiative that sets minimum funding for public schools. Repeatedly, funding has fallen short of 11 percent.

"This provides external validation of something we have been saying for years," said Thomas J. Nussbaum, the statewide chancellor of the colleges who is in his final week in the post. "This may help make the case more convincingly that we are severely underfunded and yet, we are expected to do so much."

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College fees
California community colleges remain the most affordable two-year public colleges in the nation, even with the proposed increase to $26 per unit.
The following shows figures based on full-time enrollment (30 units) in 2000-2001:

* U.S. average -$1,359

* California -- $330

* Current California fee -- $540

* Proposed -- $780

Source: "Financing California's Community Colleges" by Patrick J. Murphy for the Public Policy Institute of California; the Governor's Office and the California Legislative Analyst's Office.