Make a Difference

Tuition only covers about 6% of the real cost of a community college education.

A Los Rios education may be among the best values in higher education, but for a full-time student, the $1,104 they pay in tuition fees is only a small fraction of the $19,104 it costs to attend community college.

Nearly 70% of our students are low-income and 30% live in poverty.

A 2016 HOPE Lab survey of 33,000 students at 70 community colleges found that 56% of students experienced low or very low food security, 51% were housing insecure, and 14% were homeless.

Working to survive comes at a cost.

Low-income students often work 30 to 40 hours per week to make ends meet. However, we've seen that students who work more than 20 hours per week tend to take fewer units and have less time for focused study. This means they are less likely to graduate – and even if they do, they've spent more years in school before entering the workforce.

The net price of community college for low-income, independent students is actually higher than UC or CSU.

Because the same federal grant aid is not available to community college students, their net price is often thousands of dollars more than UC or CSU. For instance, the net cost for UC Davis is $8,500; for CSU Sacramento, it's $10,900; and for California Community Colleges, it's $15,700.

This is your community.

Our students tend to stay and work in the Sacramento region. For every dollar spent on a Los Rios education, taxpayers see a return of 5.6%. That's because students earn more, contribute more in taxes, live healthier lives, start businesses, and stay out of prison – and they pass these benefits on to their children. Businesses rely on our students to provide them with an educated workforce.

Every gift makes a difference!

Most gifts we receive are under $1,000 – but together they add up to millions of dollars for financial aid, academics, arts, and other programs.

Learn more about how to give and where to give.