At a time when the need for California’s community colleges has
increased, budget cuts are forcing them to turn away students, and
the situation could get worse, Chancellor Jack Scott said
Wednesday.
At a time when the need for California’s community colleges has increased, budget cuts are forcing them to turn away students, and the situation could get worse, Chancellor Jack Scott said Wednesday.
Although enrollment in the state system had grown steadily for five years, it saw a 1 percent decrease this year, and community college officials concluded reduced course offerings have turned people away, Scott said.
“The unemployment rate is pushing people to seek training, and then, the fact that (the state universities) have capped their enrollment, more students are seeking to get their first two years in community colleges,” Scott said in a telephone conference. “We have a perfect storm in terms of enrollment, yet we took the severest cut in California.”
What’s worse, the colleges are educating students for whom the state is not paying.
California Community colleges received a $520 million cut in 2009-10, or about 8 percent of its budget. The cuts resulted in fewer course offerings and, as a result, some students have not found the classes they need, college officials said.
Statewide, community colleges are educating 200,000 students for which they’re not being reimbursed, an estimated $400 million, Scott said.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a 2.2 percent increase for community colleges – or $126 million, what the colleges would need to educate about 60,000 students. But the governor’s proposed budget assumes the state will receive $6billion from the federal government, and analysts doubt California will get that much.
The systematic de-funding of higher education is a matter of concern for all Californians, Scott said.
“By 2025 we will have one million fewer educated college graduates than the economy needs,” he said. “Who will provide consumer goods, buy homes, who will be the health care workers? The community colleges are in the front lines … so this is something I’m deeply concerned about, and I believe California ought to be concerned too.”
