Since 1982, the Chancellor's Office has offered a service to our community college districts to help collect funds owed by former students. This program, known as the Chancellor's Office Tax Offset Program (COTOP), has been particularly useful in collecting on debts for which collection has proven to be difficult. Collection is accomplished by having the State Franchise Tax Board offset (deduct) from student debtors any state tax refunds and/or lottery winnings they would be receiving and forwarding those funds to the college districts they owe.
By contracting with the Chancellor's Office, districts can recover outstanding student obligations such as student loans in default, out-of-state fees, enrollment fees, library fines, personal checks written with non-sufficient funds, etc. A complete listing of the 36 types of unpaid obligations for which collection can be made using the COTOP program is available for review.
Questions or requests for additional information may be directed to COTOP staff listed below.
Program Staff
Richard Quintana, COTOP Coordinator
916.324.0925 rquintan@cccco.edu
Elena Zellmer, Program Assistant II
916.327.5892 ezellmer@cccco.edu
Eric Thorson, COTOP Assistant
916.322.7412 ethorson@cccco.edu
Linda Michalowski, Vice Chancellor
916.327.5361 lmichalo@cccco.edu
Jeff Spano, Dean
916.327.7252 jspano@cccco.edu