Mentor, support programs at community colleges likely to see
cuts
Sandy Medina, a second-year student at Gavilan College, had high
hopes of attending college when she was a San Benito High School
student.
Mentor, support programs at community colleges likely to see cuts
Sandy Medina, a second-year student at Gavilan College, had high hopes of attending college when she was a San Benito High School student.
“I was very involved in high school,” she said. “I was prom chair, involved in winter ball. I knew I wanted to go to a CSU or a UC, but things didn’t work out the way I planned and I ended up going to Gavilan.”
Her decision to start off at the local community college came after talking with her parents and a counselor from Gavilan College, Celia Marquez, a Puente counselor and co-coordinator.
“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in and I wasn’t sure what school I wanted to go to,” Medina said, as graduation approached. “I wasn’t sure what the difference was between a CSU or a UC or a private school.”
Marquez encouraged Medina to join the Puente program at Gavilan – a program that incorporates English classes, a guidance course, mentorship and plenty of support. Most of the students in the program come from Hispanic families. Some are the children of immigrants or grew up learning English as a second language. Some are from low-income families. And many are the first in their family to attend college.
“Lost – I would have been lost,” said Medina, who is on schedule to transfer for fall 2010. “I don’t know what I would have done.”
Programs such as the one that helped Medina are on the chopping block due to cuts to community colleges that are coming down from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature. Though Gavilan College President Steve Kinsella announced cancelled classes for the summer and fall semester to help bring the college budget in line May 19, more cuts are being discussed by state legislators.
“The reality is there are going to be cuts – cuts everywhere,” said Elvira Robinson, a Gavilan College trustee and a member of the Latino Advisory Committee. “That is an unfortunate reality.”
Trustees met with the Latino Advisory Committee on June 8 and invited the directors from many of the categorical programs on campus that are being discussed for possible state cuts.
“People walked out very satisfied, knowing that yes, there may be cuts, but we have a large reserve and we will assist, in anyway we can, these programs.”
Some of the programs at risk of cuts include Puente; Extended Opportunity Programs and Services; Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement; the Early Achievement Opportunity Program; and the Disability Resource Center.
Alejandro Orozco is one such student who attributes his success to the MESA program at Gavilan College. He started at the college as an ESL student, and with support from the MESA program, he worked his way up to transfer-level courses.
“If it wasn’t for the staff that they had, I most likely would not have finished my career,” Orozco wrote in a press release. “They gave me special support and many resources that I used in order to go to the university and finish my degree.”
Orozco transferred to the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he earned a bachelor’s of science in molecular cell and developmolecular cell and developmental biology. He now works for ARK Diagnostics in Santa Clara, where he is involved in developing epileptic drugs and immunizations for HIV drugs.
“Our goal on campus is to help transfer students to four-year schools, and major in math and science disciplines,” said Eduardo Cervantes, the MESA director. “In a year, we serve, normally, 125 students with full-services, but we also have some services, like tutorial, that are open to the rest of the campus.”
Including students who stop in for tutorial, the MESA program services 480 students.
Statewide, EAOP, Puente and MESA serve more than 71,000 students.
At the local level Gavilan college trustees, staff members and students have little say over what programs are cut – and if they spread them out over many departments.
Originally, Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget called for a 50 percent reduction in categorical budgets, which include many of the support programs. Kent Child, a trustee and a former faculty member on the campus, said that lobbying from concerned citizens has shifted some of the cuts. The Disability Resource Center may see a 15 percent cut, while other programs will have much deeper cuts.
“They are recommending jumps to others to 85 percent, including MESA, Puente and a long list of others, which would gut them,” Child said. “The sad thing from my own personal point of view is that the extreme reductions are now trying to single out specific programs. Do you absorb the cuts evenly – wide and thin – or narrow and deep? Wide and thin, everyone gets by and survives … it doesn’t pit students against each other.”
Active on the Gavilan campus for many years, Child said he has seen the campus weather other economic downturns, and often enrollment climbs during those times.
In addition to the cuts, Child said state legislators – who set tuition for the comcommunity colleges – are considering doubling the price per unit for students, which is now set at $20. The cost for those with a bachelor’s may top $100 a unit.
Enrollment had been on the rise at Gavilan College when the recent cancellation of courses was announced.
“The sad thing is the cuts for the community college system will disproportionately affect the most economically disadvantaged students,” Child said. “It’s a sad kind of reversal and almost seems vindictive with cuts in social services and education … We as a board will have to make very tough decisions.”
Legislatures were expected to release a revised budget this week, though it was not available at press time.
“I am realistic enough to know that [programs] will be affected negatively, but that’s not the same as them disappearing altogether,” Child said. “If they can be lower key, with less finances, to get by for a year or two – rebuilding is a lot easier than if they go away and trying to bring them back.”
