Registration for returning students for the summer session opened at City College of San Francisco this week. (Laura Waxmann/S.F. Examiner)

Early registration has begun for City College of San Francisco’s first tuition-free summer session under the ‘Free City’ program, according to college officials.

Previously the tuition free classes for San Francisco residents were only available during the spring and fall semesters.

However, last year the Board of Supervisors allocated $2.4 million for City College to expand the Free City program to cover the summer sessions for 2019 and 2020.

Early registration for summer classes began on April 8th for continuing students, and open enrollment will start on April 24th for new or returning students.

The ‘Free City’ program, which has been described as “wildly successful,” by Jennifer Worley, the president of City College’s faculty union, is credited with bringing in 10,000 city residents for the 2017 and 2018 semesters. However it has not been without problems.

Nearly one year after it was first implemented for the 2017 Fall semester, the tuition subsidy program left the college with a $4.77 million debt, after it came to light that the actual costs per student were greater than what the city agreed to reimburse.

Currently the college is facing a $32 million budget deficit. This is in part due to enrollment numbers not growing to expected levels, as was first reported by the college’s paper the Guardsman.

A spokesperson for the college said, “We are excited that Free City will be available to San Franciscans for the upcoming summer session, and we look forward to welcoming continuing as well as new students this summer.”

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