Board decision: Osuna Hall will remain open for another year

At its May 14 meeting, the Yuba Community College District Board of Trustees unanimously approved a resolution to raise dormitory fees that will allow Osuna Hall to operate as the Yuba College student Residence Hall for at least another academic year. If the fee increase had not been ratified by the Board as proposed, the Residence Hall program would have been terminated as of June 30, 2003.Yuba College is one of only 11 California community colleges that offer student residence hall facilities, although that number will drop to 10 with the closure of the student resident facilities at Santa Rosa Junior College this month. In light of proposed state budget cuts the Yuba Community College District administration has had to take a close look at the feasibility of keeping the 60 bed Osuna Hall residence facility open.Campus Life/Residence Hall Coordinator Elizabeth Bowman said that the YCCD Board was willing to keep the Residence Hall open since it was financially self-sufficient. Through the Student Services Program Review it was determined that two components required to achieve financial solvency include raising dormitory fees to students residing in Osuna Hall and negotiating Yuba College’s current food contract with Chartwell’s to a lower rate.For the 2002-03 academic year, dormitory fees for students residing in Osuna Hall were $2,297.50 per semester, with a $100 deposit/application fee, $75 of which was refundable if the student vacated his or her room in good condition and $25 of which was nonrefundable. Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Student Services Paul Mendoza proposed before the District Board of Trustees at its May 14 meeting that the dormitory fees be raised to $2,987.00 per semester, with a $325 deposit/application fee, of which all but $100 will be refundable. It has been three years since the last dormitory fee increase.Bowman said the deposit must be raised because if a student loses the key to his or her room, it costs $100 to have the key replaced, which the useable $75 portion of the current deposit does not cover.

Additionally, if a student does not leave his or her room in good, clean condition when moving out of the Residence Hall, the District must pay more than that same $75 portion provides to have the room cleaned and prepared for its next resident.

Food for student residents is a significant portion of the dormitory’s expenses. Bowman said that it costs the District $28 per day to feed each student resident, but the student fees collected during the current academic year only allotted $20 per day for each student’s food and living expenses.

Currently, the Residence Hall spends $260,000 per year on food. Although the District issued a public Request For Proposal, or public bid, Chartwell’s was the only company to submit a bid for the contract. Chartwell’s has been the sole food service provider to YCCD for 13 years.

Bowman said the District is asking Chartwell’s to reduce the current annual contract figure by approximately $30 thousand and that Chartwell’s seemed to be responding favorably to the negotiations.