The Office of Academic Support and Institutional Services is facing $90,000 in cuts to its permanent budget over the next two years, leaving both staff and the students who use the facilities concerned about the future of the office’s retention programs.
Falling numbers:
“It’s come to the question of whether we should cut an entire program or cut the number of students we’re able to help,” O.A.S.I.S. Director Patrick Velazquez said.
In addition to cuts of $45,000 annually to its permanent budget, funds distributed to the center’s temporary budget are also at stake, depending upon a specific allocation formula that uses a list of approximately 900 students classified by the university Office of Student Affairs as “at risk.”
To qualify for the list, the formula takes into account an incoming freshman’s high school GPA as well as SAT I and II scores, eventually projecting a student’s first year GPA. If a student’s predicted average falls below a 2.8, the student is labeled as “at risk.”
If the student’s GPA by the end of his or her first year is below a 2.0, or if the student has fewer than 36 units, O.A.S.I.S. loses roughly $1,800 per student. Conversely, if the student maintains a GPA above 3.0 and accumulates 36 units, O.A.S.I.S. receives an estimated additional $600. Names of students placed upon the list are classified, even to the students themselves.
This allocation formula is applied to all students on the list, regardless of whether they have used O.A.S.I.S. services or not, which is causing concerns among the center’s staff and organizations such as the Student Affirmative Action Committee.
“I don’t see why O.A.S.I.S., the only program in student affairs that has an explicit mission to serve underserved students who may be most disadvantaged academically, is also one of the only programs I know of with an incentive-based funding formula,” SAAC Chair Emily Leach said.
SAAC has been in discussions with Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson since February, expressing its apprehensions concerning the budget cuts to O.A.S.I.S., as well as the allocation formula. The goal of such negotiations, Leach said, is for jurisdiction of O.A.S.I.S. to be placed within the Office of Academic Affairs instead of its current position in the Office of Student Affairs.
Calls to Watson’s office were not returned.
The staff of the retention program has also expressed its dissatisfaction with the formula, questioning the fairness of the manner in which O.A.S.I.S. receives its funds.
“My personal preference would have been a system of stable funding as well as a formula based more on comprehensive efforts — something a little bit more individualized,” Velazquez said.
A reduction in funding to O.A.S.I.S. puts numerous programs at stake, including Summer Bridge, a service that prepares incoming freshmen the summer before their first year and works with them throughout their college career.
“Summer Bridge was extremely helpful,” said Eleanor Roosevelt College sophomore Mohan Kanungo, who took part in the program last year. “Without it, I don’t think I would have felt as compelled to pursue the leadership positions I now have, or to be as connected with the communities that I am in now.”
