Fear The Budget

In recent years, the various  bodies of higher education  have  been  presented  with  a  series  of  rigorous  obstacles  brought  about  by  economic  woes  existing  at  both  state  and  federal  levels.   Although  the United States  government  is  presently  tasked  with  bridging  the  budget  gap  said  to  stand  at  $1.3  trillion, California  has been brewing  it’s own share of  fnancial diffculties since 2000.  

California has been wrangling  with a massive budget defcit  standing at a staggering $26 billion  for  years.  Although  Gov.  Arnold  Schwarzenegger  has  put  forward  an  air  of  certainty  as  to  the  state’s  ability  to  solve  the  defcit,  state  Controller  John  Chiang  recently  announced  that  next  year’s  defcit  will,  in  actuality,  be  $1  billion  higher  than  the  state  anticipated.   News  only  just  emerging  after  Gov.  Schwarzenegger and the state  legislature  conceded  to  a  budget  plan just this summer.  

After  experiencing  a  prolonged  impasse,  CA  legislators  shaped  a  budget  plan  that  aimed  to  temporarily  weather  budgetary  concerns by slashing funding across  state programs. Adding  to  public  discontent  already  felt  at  the  state’s  failure  to  speedily  present  a working  budget  plan,  the state also slashed funding  reserved  for  education.  Affected  were  the K-12  classes,  community  colleges  and  universities.    In  total,  spending cuts established 20%  less  funding  for  schools  compared  to  last year. This  has  left  community  college  administrators  scrambling  to  meet  new  budget  expectations  by  choosing  to  scale  back school services, cancel courses,  and furlough staff members. Adam  O’Connor,  director  of  budget  and  fnance,  summarized  how  Fullerton  College  has  been  affected  as  a  result  of  the  budget  cuts,  “The  college  cut  back  a  signifcant  number  of  classes  this  year  amounting  to  reductions  of  approximately  $2.5  million.   

In  addition all operating budgets have  been reduced for a total of $472,000.   The  district  eliminated  22  faculty  positions  from  our  campus  and  we  also  have  eight  additional  staff  position vacancies on hold.” S uffce  it  to  say,  students  are  now  bearing  the  brunt  of  the  funding  cuts.    Even  students  who  took  precaution  against  the  complications attributed to the start  of a new semester were not immune  to the budget cuts. Grace  Kang,  a  sophomore  majoring  in  Computer  Illustration  is  one  of  these  students.  Kang  described her experience of securing  and  consequently  paying  for  the  classes she had applied for.  To later  learn  that although she had already  paid  for her classes, she  too would  be held susceptible to the increase in  tuition  costs  and  compelled  to  pay  for the difference.  “It’s not  the kind  of money I’m used to paying”, Kang  said, adding, “It’s inconvenient”. Toni  DuBois,  Vice  President  of  student  services  is  skeptical  in  attributing  student  woes  solely  on  the  backs  of  Fullerton  College  administrators.   

In  reference  to  the  increase  from  $20  to  $26  in  tuition fees, she pointed out that CA  legislators  determine  community  college costs.  Kang  also  described  various   accounts of how students had signed  up  for  classes,  and,  assuming  they  would  still be  available, purchased  all  of  the  necessary  books  to  accompany  them,  only  to  fnd  out  they were cancelled.  DuBois  addressed  this  issue  by  stating, “It was necessary to reduce  the course offerings for the Fall 2009  semester  because  of  the  reduction  in  funding  coming  to  the  district  from the state. Each of the division  deans  met  with  faculty  members  and  strategically  selected  the  courses  that were  cut.  These were  very  diffcult  decisions  because  all  of  the  course  offerings  originally  scheduled for Fall 2009 were good.  Courses  with  historically  lower  enrollment were  eliminated  and  in  some cases when fve sections of a  course were previously offered only  four sections are now offered. 

Nearly  500  more  students  are  attending FC this fall than Fall 2008.  With fewer course offerings, classes  are more  crowded  and  the  fll  rate  of  the  classes  (the  percentage  of  students  in  the  class)  compared  to  the  available  space  has  increased  signifcantly.” Although UCs  and Cal  States  have  experienced  the  more  severe of  the budget cuts,  the steps  they have taken in order to overcome  the  issues  may  offer  negative  consequences  for  community  colleges. Students  intimidated    by  tuition  costs  in  Cal  States  may  opt  for  community colleges instead.  These  students,  fooding  into  community  colleges as a last result, are leading  to  higher  admissions  and  greater  demand for classes that are currently  beyond capacity.