Illustration by Emily Manning
Budget cuts. Nobody likes those words, especially students that are trying to transfer to a four-year university or graduate with their desired degree and start their career.
California residents have seen their state budget cuts affect more than just the labor workforce but students, community colleges and universities as well.
These schools have had to cut their course offerings, raise tuition fees, raise parking fees, hold a hiring freeze, and schedule furlough days. Mt. SAC has been cutting their courses for the past two years the same way: summer by 50 percent, fall and spring by five percent, and winter by 25 percent. It has affected students on campus trying to add their general education requirement classes in order to continue on their educational plan to transfer to their four-year of choice.
Rebecca Olaguez, 20, pre-med and biology major said, “Yes, classes have been a pain to get into a couple of semesters, several were always full and a lot of classes were cut this semester and offered only at certain times.”
So far it has taken Olaguez three years to complete her general education requirements and has had to balance her school schedule with her work schedule having to make certain adjustments to fit both needs.
“I had to come to school four days a week instead of my usual two days,” Olaguez said of the necessary adjusments made due to classes being only available on certain days and hours. “I was forced to go on-call [at work] because I couldn’t work my full time hours.” Olaguez will be applying to Cal State San Bernardino, UC Riverside, as well as some private universities this month and next month.
Cal Poly student Amanda Mattox, 22, English major, began attending Cal Poly in Sept. of 2006 after graduating high school. Mattox plans on graduating from Cal Poly in the spring of 2011, totaling five years for her intended major and educational plan.
“I fortunately have added all of the classes that I have needed,” Mattox said. “There is a limited selection of classes, so I do not get the privilege of choosing when and what classes I want to take for a particular quarter,” explaining that her school schedule had fluctuated throughout the times of the day and days of the week.
Other students struggle to add the classes they need in order to stay on track for graduation but sometime some of them aren’t available or coincide with other courses a student is already taking.
Justin Zych, 23, accounting certificate program, has had issues trying to get the needed courses to fulfill his certification for accounting and then move onto his major courses.
“There have been hardly any sections for some of the courses I need for my certificate program, some courses didn’t even have a single section to register for,” Zych said.
Even students who are not trying to transfer out are being affected by the budget cuts. For students that are just trying to get certified in a particular area of choice is deemed hard when all they need want is to find a job with that certificate.
Unfortunately limited course offerings or course cancellations aren’t the only issues students are faced with each semester. Financial aid is a huge problem in the community colleges and universities. Although some people may believe it is cheap to attend a community college, sometimes it just is not cheap enough for some to manage.
According to an article on Sept. 30 in the Whittier Daily News, “The state is not funding Cal Grants, which offer up to $1,551 per student to help pay for fees and other expenses like textbooks, transportation, housing, and child care.”
Lisa Camacho, 22, liberal studies major, has been attending Mt.SAC since June of 2006 and this fall semester is the first she has missed.
“I haven’t had any problems trying to get the classes I need, but I am having problems getting my financial aid. I had to skip this semester because my financial aid didn’t come in and I didn’t have the money to pay for my books,” Camacho said.
Some community colleges are using their own money for cover Cal Grant payments to students, but not all community colleges can afford to do that in this time of financial need. Go figure.
In addition to these measures taken by the community colleges in an effort to conserve costs, Cal Poly has switched paying systems.
Mattox said, “According to the Cal Poly Pomona’s website, credit card transactions are costly. Thus, credit card payments are processed through CASHNet, which charges students a 2.9 percent convenience charge for registration and tuition [payments].” Every school must make do with what they can until a new budget is formed and is in favor of schools and their students.
Gabriela Bracamontes
A&E Editor
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