LOCAL NEWS ‘mdash; While the San Diego Community College District’s recent 13 percent increase in enrollment may signify that unlucky job-seekers are looking to earn degrees and develop more professional skills, the district’s recent 600-class downsizing resulting from an $11 million reduction in state funding over the past 18 months poses serious threats to both unemployed residents hoping to get ahead and the core ideals on which the California community colleges were founded.
Since its creation, the California community college system has played an important role in providing both vocational training and public undergraduate education. Designed to offer an unrestricted path to upward mobility, the institution’s affordable tuition fees and open admissions allow anyone from the untrained worker to the lower-income student to climb the state educational ladder’s most basic rungs.
Although it’s impossible to know the educational makeup of the 7,000 students who were denied Spring Semester classes due to SDCCD’s budget and class cuts, according to a report by the California Department of Education, of the 356,641 students who graduated from a California high school in 2007, only 35.5 percent completed the courses required to enter the University of California or a California State University. Presumably, the remaining 230,125 students found themselves choosing between attending commmunity college and entering the workforce.
It’s safe to assume that these recent high-school graduates make up the majority of SDCCD’s students. As costs for private universities and four-year institutions continue to rise, many students choose to defer UC acceptances and transfer to a four-year university after completing their general-education requirements at a community college for the simple purpose of saving money.
‘ But the California community college isn’t just for the penny-pinching student, it is also often one of the only educational institutions open to low-income families unable to afford four-year college tuition fees or unskilled workers looking to earn a degree. Especially in a region known for its high concentration of immigrants, offering a resource where residents can take a step toward a more rewarding career is an invaluable building block in society that facilitates social advancement.
The University of California ‘mdash; an institution that accepts approximately 90 percent of its UC transfer students from California community colleges ‘mdash; has been a longtime supporter of the two-year transfer, working with institutions like Articulation System Stimulating Interinstitutional Student Transfer to aid students in transitioning from a California community college to a four-year public university. In addition, the UC Board of Regents recently proposed cutting freshman enrollment by 6 percent and increasing’ transfers by about 3 percent, further encouraging students to consider entering as juniors.
‘We need to keep open cost-effective paths to UC, such as the community college transfer route,’ UC President Mark G. Yudof recently told the Los Angeles Times.
While it may be more cos
t-effective for the University of California to guide students toward the community college transfer path, if the cheaper systems are overflowing and unable to offer their students basic resources, this plan will collapse on itself. Students can’t be expected to complete their general-education requirements if they’re being denied classes each semester. Especially as SDCCD projects an additional $5 million in cuts in upcoming months, legislators need to take action before our state’s most basic entrance point for class advancement is too crammed.
The solution to helping underfunded community colleges support their overflowing student enrollment isn’t pretty. Like at the University of California, administrators should be wary of the restrictions that come with raising student fees.
However, if the community college system is underfunded, it should consider increasing its $26 per course unit cost by a miniscule percentage. Adding about 50 cents per student might not deter anyone, but it would generate revenue to help fund basic courses. And for those who cannot afford community college fees in the first place, tuition can be easily waived based on financial need.
Our state’s community colleges hold a vital position: They are the means of a more educated and successful public, and they cater to those who may not be able to afford the luxuries of a four-year university. If their student overflow isn’t unclogged to make access to higher education a possibility, there isn’t anywhere to go but down.
Readers can contact Alyssa Bereznak at [email protected].