 "Photo: Angelica Davalos")
National and state budget crises are creating financial turmoil in colleges across California, obligating them to take drastic measures in response to budget cuts and deficits.
Chaffey has been forced to make the tough decision to cancel class sections for the present and future semesters, with 56 sections cancelled during this fall semester and the reality of another 10-prercent cutback in the spring semester.
The college is experiencing deterioration in its apportionment base, the pool of money allocated for the creation and sustainment of classes is drying up, according to Sherrie Guerrero, Vice President of Instruction.
Guerrero said that cutbacks in the college's budget led to the reduction of 557 Full-Time Equivalent Student (FTES) in the apportionment base. FTES is a measure used to evaluate student enrollment and determines many funding decisions. Credit courses are generally funded at $4,564 per FTES. One FTES is equal to 10 students in one 3-unit class for one term.
"Faculty and administrators are working as a team to find creative ways to deal with this situation," Guerrero said.
Guerrero and the deans jumped into action by cutting class sections when fall registration had already begun.
"If we hadn't cut the fall sections then, students in those sections would not have had the opportunity to find other classes," Guerrero said.
Sections were cut from all three campuses and included many physical education, language arts and health sciences classes.
Limasie Robinson, a graphic design/child development major, questioned why the college is building new facilities while administrators are cutting classes.
“That doesn't make sense," she said.
But it does make sense when one understands the nature of the funding process. The construction on campus is being funded by property owners in the district via a $230 million bond measure passed by the voters in 2002.
"It's even more difficult since we can't really cut financial support from other programs such as EOPS, DPS, or even construction, because their funding has been allocated for their own respective purposes and there use is protected, meaning that the funding for those programs cannot be reduced so that the extra money can be used to fund other aspects of the school budget," Guerrero said.
Because there is now less FTES money available, the spring and summer 2010 terms will also face cutbacks.
"Now it's going to be much harder to register for the classes you need for graduation or for transfer since there are fewer choices and people are going to rush to the only classes that are available," Robinson said.
The section cuts may explain the increased number of students trying to add a class amidst already tightly packed classrooms during the first few weeks of the semester.
"We are trying our best to soften the blow of these harsh budget conditions, and our plan is to spread the reductions evenly over the fall and spring terms," Guerrero said.
The financial difficulties have even shoved the college into using up about half of its rainy day reserves just to make ends meet.
Consequently, students should expect a smaller spring semester and make an effort to register for their classes as soon as they are able to, to avoid being shunned away from the classes they need.
And for those students that rely on the summer term to complete classes in a short time, the outlook is even bleaker.
"Our tentative plan right now is to run one summer session about half the size of last year's summer sessions," Guerrero said. "However, this depends on budget conditions and how much funding we have left over to use up or cutback on."
Students should keep in mind that under these circumstances it might very well be impossible for a summer session to be available at all.
Be the first to comment on this article!