Tight state budgets squeeze community colleges

Posted 7:35AM on Tuesday 9th April 2002 ( 23 years ago )

The nation's community colleges are facing cuts in programs and faculty combined with tuition and fee hikes as states struggle with budget shortfalls. Educators say the cost-saving measures - some proposed, others already implemented - are coming at a particularly bad moment because more people are looking these days for a cheaper alternative to four-year schools. "I'm going to be paying more next year for less of an education," said Justin Lis, an 18-year-old engineering student at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, Mass. He plans to join other Massachusetts community college students at a rally against cuts Tuesday on Boston Common. Team sports were dropped at Berkshire CC, where Lis played soccer, and he worries senior faculty will take the early retirement packages now being offered to them. He also expects to spend more time at his job in a horse stable to pay for the fee hikes that will drive up the $1,500 he now pays each semester to $1,700. If the trend continues, Lis said, "I'd have to face the facts and take out a big loan and go to one of these large, four-year institutions and have loans 10 years after I graduate." Nationwide, community colleges serve about 44 percent of undergraduates in degree or certificate programs. Besides the 5.4 million students enrolled for credit, roughly another 5 million are taking noncredit courses, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. Cuts are now being discussed coast-to-coast, both for entire community college systems and at individual schools. -Lane Community College in Eugene Ore., is reducing campus security, laying off faculty and staff and eliminating a slew of courses. That includes training for substance abuse counselors, real estate brokers and airplane maintenance workers. -In California, warnings of possible layoffs are going out to staff at some of the 108 campuses serving 2.5 million community college students. Funding to cover enrollment growth of 3 percent is already falling short, as the number of students jumped 4.5 percent this year. Deep cuts also are proposed for a community college-based program helping 50,000 Californians leave welfare. Also targeted: upgrades for old computers and other technology and the academic counselors who steer students on to four-year institutions. -In North Carolina, the state asked its 58 community colleges to plan for cuts of up to 10 percent. The North Carolina Community College System says that could result in the loss of courses and thousands of instructional positions. -In Arkansas, 14 of the 22 community colleges rely largely on dwindling corporate taxes. As a result, the schools are contemplating tuition increases anywhere from 4 percent to 39 percent. Not every state is cutting support. Pennsylvania, where Gov. Mark Schweiker has proposed a 4.4 percent boost in state funding for two-year schools, is a notable exception. On Monday, Michigan Gov. John Engler signed a budget that continues this year's funding for that state's 28 community colleges. They were among the few institutions spared a budget cut as the state faces a $970 million deficit next year. But overall, community colleges are taking a hit along with the rest of public higher education, said George Boggs, president of the community college association. "In the middle of an economic recession, when people need to be trained and educated, we can't be turning them away and making it too expensive," he said. Plus, "enrollments are just swelling, double digit in most states," he said. Like four-year campuses, community colleges are seeing enrollments bump up as the children of baby boomers reach college age and working adults look to boost their employable skills. For governors and state lawmakers, funding for community colleges represents one more tough choice at a time when money is tight for all programs. "Every area you cut, you could make the argument it's the worst area to cut," said James Borghesani, spokesman for acting Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift. "But, ultimately, you have to make cuts, and you have to make them with as much equity as possible." It's not only students who are fighting reductions. Groups such as the North Carolina system are taking their case to lawmakers. "You have to think, 'What is going to help revive the budget?' And that's to have people working," said system spokeswoman Audrey Bailey. "And we get people back to work."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/4/196273