The Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees increased the non-resident tuition rate by 6% in a meeting on Feb. 1.

Patrick Ahrens, vice president of the board, motioned to approve the tuition fee raise from $193 to $205 per quarter unit, which passed 4-3.

“I feel very strongly that this [district’s] recommendations have always been very carefully thought out,” said Ahrens. “In terms of balancing what we need to offer our students, versus the expenses we need to be able to recoup to allow the type of instruction and diversity of instruction that we have.”

Ahrens said he was concerned about student costs, citing the elimination of an $8 fee that used to be included in tuition.

“I feel very strongly about lowering student rates,” said Ahrens. “We eliminated the capital outlay fee and that cost the district over $1 million.”

Teresa Capitula, an international student at Foothill College and employee at the Foothill Financial Aid Office, said it is important to speak up on behalf of her peers.

“With an increasing number of international students asking for financial help due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hopefully you can increase [the fee] on a less [pronounced] level,” Capitula said.

President Lloyd Holmes said he would like for the group to come to him with a proposal about how to advance equity work at the campus.

“As we’re doing this equity work, there’s so many things that can come from the bottom up,” said Holmes. “A part of being president [is to] find the resources to support it.”

The Board of Trustees will meet again on March 2.