Golden Gate [X]press : Community Colleges may Balance CSU Enrollment Hikes, Budget Falls

Community Colleges may Balance CSU Enrollment Hikes, Budget Falls

Budget cuts hit freshmen, transfer and graduate students, financial aid recipients.

by Sandra Klein, staff writer

March 2, 2004 3:00 PM

The California State University may redirect approximately 4,000 freshmen to the 108 state community colleges if Gov. Schwarzenegger's proposed budget is approved by the state legislature in May.

In his budget proposal, Gov. Schwarzenegger told CSU officials to redirect 10 percent of their incoming freshmen to the community colleges. But Patrick Lenz, CSU assistant vice chancellor for budget development, said CSUs instead will ask for a 5 percent cut of the total enrollment so the system can have more latitude in who are turned away. That comes out to about 20,000 students, mainly entering freshmen, graduate students and transferring juniors from community colleges.

Gov. Schwarzenegger�s proposed budget for fiscal 2004-05 will trim $240 million, or 9 percent, from CSU�s spending. This translates into fewer classes, fewer services, and the reduction in enrollment.

�All prospective students who have received letters of admission and satisfy all conditions outlined in the letter will be welcome to attend. We will not rescind any offer of admission for fall 2004,� said Jo Volkert, associate vice president of enrollment planning and management.

On Jan. 9, the California Community Colleges� Chancellor�s Office said California�s community colleges received priority in the proposed budget plan, and so were spared the deep cuts given to the CSU.

The governor's budget increases system funding by $211 million, including $120 million from Proposition 98, which supports community colleges. Overall, the governor�s budget provides a 4.4 percent increase in program funding for the community colleges.

�A community college is a good choice for any student who may want to attend a four-year school later but who is not yet academically, personally, or economically ready to begin study at a university,� said Cheryl Fong, interim public information officer of the California Community Colleges.

One of the reasons incoming freshmen are being redirected to community colleges is due to their lack of educational readiness to enter the university system. (See ) Only about half of the freshmen who entered CSUs last fall can read and write proficiently, while just 63 percent are proficient in math, university officials announced Jan. 21.

It was bad news for the trustees of the CSU system, which spends $10 million annually on remedial courses that should have been covered in elementary and secondary schools.

In 1996, the trustees approved a get-tough policy. All freshmen who had not already shown they could do college-level work would have to do so within their first 15 months of college or be kicked out of school.

CSU officials released figures on Jan. 21 showing that most students who are kicked out go to community colleges. CSU�s figures showed that 77 percent of 2,227 freshmen in Fall 2001 who had been dismissed subsequently enrolled in community colleges. A year later, 58 percent of the students were continuing at community colleges and 13 percent, after completing remedial work, were back at the CSUs.

Clara Potes-Fellow, spokeswoman for the CSU, said, �If the proposed budget is passed, students who are redirected to community colleges will get fee waivers. There will be no cost to students; this is due to Proposition 98. And community colleges have lower costs.�

As far as the enrollment of students other than freshmen, Volkert said, �Second BA students will be accepted only if they enter specifically identified programs that receive grant funding or have other unique characteristics. Under the governor�s proposed budget, students who take courses that are in 10 percent excess of general education requirements, major or minor requirements, will pay full tuition for those classes.�

No official statements from the CSU or the state department of finance have been issued as to which junior transfer and graduate students will be accepted for Fall 2004, but the prospects are not encouraging.

In addition to fee hikes, students will also be hit with reduced financial aid. The proposed budget states $11.2 million will be cut by lowering the maximum allowable income of Cal Grant recipients by ten percent.

It also proposes to decouple Cal Grant awards from the fee levels in the CSU � in other words, grant monies may not rise along with rises in fees. Under the present policy, Cal Grant awards would be increased to cover the proposed undergraduate fee increases proposed for the CSU.

In regards to the outcome of the proposed budget, Potes-Fellow said, �The budget will pass, but the state senate and assembly will discuss it and there will probably be a compromise.�

Whatever the outcome, the governor is supposed to adopt a budget by July 1, 2004.