Chancellor’s Office Tax Offset Program (COTOP)

The COTOP program is a method of collecting past due fees for the Los Angeles Community College District owed by former students. The West Los Angeles College Business Office reviews the accounts receivables and only submits those debts that are permitted to be collected through COTOP. Under the COTOP program, the Chancellor’s Office requests the Franchise Tax Board to offset (deduct) the amount owed to a district from the student/debtor’s personal state income tax refund, lottery winnings or other state refund.

Student accounts that have past due fees may be submitted to COTOP. This can include enrollment and associated fees incurred at West Los Angeles College. The West Los Angeles College Business Office will send out a letter to the last known address of a student, instructing the student that their past due fees may be sent to COTOP. The student then has 30 days to pay their fees in full.

Please be aware that this debt will NOT be submitted to any major credit agencies.

If a student’s past due fees are not pain in full in the 30 days after the letters are sent out, the past due fee information will be submitted to the State of California COTOP. Please note that a 25% charge is added to all outstanding fees processed through COTOP.