State budget: Trigger cuts hit community colleges

Parents Forum
1

<p>Is it me or is it crazy that CC went from $26 a unit to $46 a unit in one year. I see community college being out of reach for working class in the future. I went about 10 years ago and it was around $400 bucks for the whole year both semester, what happened.</p>

<p>State</a> budget: Trigger cuts hit community colleges</p>

<p>Now that California's dreaded "trigger cuts" have been triggered, public colleges and universities - and students and teachers - are the clear losers in the midyear budget bloodbath. </p>

<p>California State University and the University of California will each lose $100 million, bringing to $750 million in cuts this year from each university's budget. </p>

<p>But the deepest impact will be at community colleges, where the cuts will cost $102 million, for a total loss this year of $502 million from the system's $5.9 billion budget. </p>

<p>"Colleges are at a breaking point now," said Chancellor Jack Scott of the community college system, predicting more crowded classrooms and layoffs of adjunct faculty, who teach on semester-to-semester contracts.</p>

<p>"Colleges will say to many of them, 'Sorry, we don't need you anymore,'" Scott said. "And I can't guarantee there won't be layoffs of permanent personnel."</p>

<p>At the same time, community colleges expect to make back about $110 million by charging students, most of whom are low-income, more to attend. </p>

<p>Tuition will rise to $46 a unit next summer ($1,380 a year for a full-time student taking 15 units), up from $36 a unit ($1,080 a year). Last year it cost $26 a unit, or $780 a year for a full load of classes. That's a 57 percent increase since last spring.</p>

<p>"This is hurting my wallet," said Joe Fitzgerald, a film student at City College of San Francisco and editor of the campus newspaper, The Guardsman.</p>

<p>He owes the school $460. While that's less than the price of an iPad, it's enough to bar him from registering for next semester until he finds the cash. And it's not that he doesn't work. Fitzgerald teaches part-time at the city's High School of the Arts. </p>

<p>He would have graduated already, except that he hasn't been able to get into the one math class he still needs. So he's crossing his fingers that there will be room for him next semester. </p>

<p>There's no guarantee. City College will cut 350 courses this spring because of the trigger cuts - so called because they were triggered when the state didn't bring in enough tax revenue.</p>

<p>That translates to a loss of $13.5 million at City College, which will have to turn away about 6,000 students and will offer only a limited summer program.</p>

<p>"We just got hammered," said Peter Goldstein, vice chancellor for finance. </p>

<p>At CSU, higher tuition and fees this year and next will generate $300 million toward its $750 million overall cut. Beyond that, the university will dip into reserves and delay nonessential expenditures, spokeswoman Claudia Keith said.</p>

<p>At Cal State East Bay in Hayward, the campus set aside $1.5 million, but the trigger cuts will actually mean a loss of $3.7 million. </p>

<p>"Other one-time savings have been identified to help make up the difference," said Leroy Mori****a, the campus' interim president.</p>

<p>On far better footing is UC, which is charging students 17 percent more in tuition and fees than it did a year ago. This year, the regents are planning no midyear tuition increase. Nor is President Mark Yudof planning to cancel $140 million in merit raises for faculty, managers and supervisors or ask campuses to take additional austerity measures.</p>

<p>Instead, UC will offset the $100 million cut with money it over-contributed for health care, a pool of excess cash that happens to be just above $100 million, UC spokesman Steve Montiel said.</p>

<p>"It's a temporary solution," Montiel said, adding that UC is in talks with the state Department of Finance to try to work out a multiyear agreement in which the state would stop cutting the universities' budgets every year in exchange for a steady, predictable schedule of tuition increases.</p>

<p>Such "compacts" have been tried before, but have blown up in the face of persistent budget shortfalls.</p>

<p>Read more: State</a> budget: Trigger cuts hit community colleges</p>

2

<p>Our local CC here in Maryland is $82 a credit and it is the lowest in the state.</p>

3

<p>Our local CC in upstate NY is $154 per credit hour and there are several hundred $$ on top of that in fees.</p>

4

<p>I don’t think that Santookie is going to get any sympathy on here.</p>

5

<p>California has been over-spending on many things including colleges for decades. Reality time. You cannot afford what you were doing in the past.</p>

6

<p>

Come on - $1,380/year for a full time student is next to nothing. It doesn’t take much of a part time job to be able to earn enough to pay for that as the student goes along. I’m sure the student would like, or maybe even expect, the education to be available to them at no cost whatsoever but really, this is still a very low cost and affordable education.</p>

7

<p>I’m a Californian, and I have no problem with raising the tuition rate to $46/credit. I think it should be raised even higher. It is still such a bargain, compared to the CSU or UCs.</p>

<p>And I think that the community colleges need to start limiting who attends. Right now, anyone can take classes, from the serious student that wants to transfer in 2 years to someone like me that might want to take a photography or project management class.</p>

<p>They need to focus on the students that are serious, and devote attention to getting them graduated/transferred successfully. Currently the graduate/transfer rate is less than 20%, which is pretty dismal.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>What they should do is require that anyone repeating a course (whether D/F, late drop with W, or otherwise) can only pre-register for the waitlist, and such students are automatically at the back of the waitlist behind those taking the course for the first time.</p>

<p>But otherwise making them selective the way UCs and CSUs are goes against the intent of having community colleges.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>A lot of community college students are taking courses for personal interest (e.g. learning a foreign language) or for reasons other than getting an associates or transferring to a four year school. The community college is supposed to serve all, even though the various groups of students may not be in the same courses.</p>

9

<p>Maybe taking course for fun is no longer something that needs to be funded by the state. Charge the full cost.</p>

10

<p>

</p>

<p>How do you tell if the student in Spanish I is learning it “for fun”, for his/her job, or to meet transfer requirements for UC/CSU? How do you tell if the student in Basic Auto Repair is learning it “for fun” or because s/he wants to be an auto mechanic?</p>

<p>Perhaps there could be differences in fees based on the type of course (e.g. charge higher for more expensive to teach courses like those with labs), but trying to distinguish between motivations may not be easy to do.</p>

11

<p>I took a golf class just for fun. My D needed to take it to satisfy a stupid HS PE requirement (2.5 years of PE as opposed to 2 years like most districts) and didn’t want to waste a year where she could fill the slot with an AP class so she took this class at the CC and I decided to take it with her since I didn’t know how to golf. It was crazy inexpensive for me and no cost to them. It was fun.</p>

<p>My other kid did the same thing but took a fitness course instead using the equipment in the fitness room.</p>

<p>There’s another category for consideration - HS students taking courses at a CC because either the HS didn’t offer the course, because it was more convenient (in my kids’ case), or because they need to retake a course they didn’t do well in at the HS.</p>

<p>I agree on the fun courses, like the golfing class I took, or perhaps a glass blowing class or any of a number of other classes - there’s really no need for those to be subsidized. ‘ucbalumnus’ has a point though - how to distinguish some of the less obviously ‘fun’ type courses between those taking it for fun, like the language course, and those taking it for a HS requirement or for college GEs.</p>

<p>It’s true though that there are a lot of quite less than serious students attending CCs which all costs money. There’s a group who attend a CC for a couple of focused years to do GEs, figure out what they want to major in at a 4 year college, and save some money, which is a great use of the CC, a group who are playing at it just because they don’t know what else to do and aren’t serious about it, a waste of money, and those who are taking the fun and special interest courses, which probably shouldn’t be subsidized by taxpayers.</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>When my D did this about 7 years ago, the CC courses were free to HS students. I do not know the reason why or whether this is still the case.</p>

13

<p>My retired mom took community college foreign language classes “for fun.” She ended up passing a licensing exam and is now a part-time court translator. She donates most of her post-tax pay because she doesn’t need the money: her local public library, Boys and Girls Club, Planned Parenthood and quite a few California democrats have been among the beneficiaries. She also sponsors at least one child each summer for summer camp.</p>

<p>I would say that a lot of people benefited from this investment by the state of California.</p>

<p>*** added ***</p>

<p>Just thought of another example: a friend took some jewelry making courses at a local community college. Did it “for fun.” Ended up having so much fun, she made more than she could wear, and started selling it. She made a business out of her fun. Now she employs a full-time artist and a part-time book keeper. She’s what conservatives love: a JOB CREATOR. </p>

<p>All thanks to some fun community college classes.</p>

14

<p>If 90% of the cases were as these examples Cali would not be in the trouble it is. Nice stories but again–they cannot afford to be all things to all people. Figure it out. If you are not working toward a degree you pay full cost.</p>

15

<p>The California budget problems have more to do with the growth of health care spending and prison spending crowding out everything else. Plus the usual “ballot box budgeting” where ballot measures typically increase spending or limit or lower taxes.</p>

16

<p>barrons, I’m not arguing against Californians paying more. (Seems reasonable to me, especially for those not “in need.”) </p>

<p>I’m arguing against the idea floated here to get rid of “fun” cc courses or to limit access only to those pursuing a degree. They call them ‘community colleges’ for a reason; and one persons frivolous fun may be another person’s ticket to a better future (not to mention a teaching job for someone else.)</p>

17

<p>Our local cc is about $100 a credit. I’d be thrilled to only be paying $48. Really thrilled.</p>

18

<p>Our CC is over $100 per credit, with significant fees tacked on. Lots of attendees get financial aid. I do think that, between the cost of CC attendance and the cost of maintaining an auto, CC is becoming too expensive for many.</p>

19

<p>My HS senior is in community college in MD. Because he is in HS, he gets a 50% discount. The current costs at the local CC are $90/ credit hour, plus $15/ credit hour in fees for all students. Then some other fees on top of that depending on the classes. It does add up quite a bit, esecially since he is doing this because the HS could not meet his needs for classes. </p>

<p>These classes are discounted pretty deeply for senior citizens. A needed mental stimulation for our elderly, and a welcome addition to the campus! The community college has to have classes for fun". It is what they are all about - community engagement.</p>

20

<p>I’ve been teaching at California community colleges for over 25 years. When I first started they were free, and many students didn’t take the classes seriously. Students could repeat courses even if they had passed them, or keep trying ad infinitum if they failed. That has been curbed. To me $46 a unit is still a real bargain. They are paying less than $150 for a 3-unit class. At UC that class costs about $1000. And a lot of our students will still pay nothing because they qualify for financial aid. I agree that the fees should go up.</p>