California finally has a state budget signed by Governor Jerry Brown, and for community colleges, the news is slightly better than expected.
The state budget calls for a 5.5% revenue reduction for California community colleges, which is a big improvement over the 8.7% reduction that the governor proposed in May.
However, this still means community colleges in California -- still, by far, the most affordable and accessible pathway to a higher-education degree in the state -- will be experiencing massive cuts in 2011-12, unless they're able to call upon one-time reserves and postpone the pain for another year.
Some Oakland and Bay Area community colleges may suffer almost $10 million in lost state funding for the upcoming year. And those same campuses could lose as much as $3 million more in state funding if California’s "optimistic" revenue estimates don’t come through.
Already pinched for operating costs while trying to maintain the affordability students have come to expect, community colleges will have eliminate vacant positions whenever possible and fill only the most essential job openings.
All in all, this means a "lesser" educational experience for California students -- despite higher expectations of faculty and staff at institutions of higher ed all across the state.
With enrollments down in the last academic year, 2010-11, because of the economy's third consecutive year in the dumps, subsidies are also lower as they are based on previous years leading up to the current one.
Thus, it's a vicious cycle for the community-college system in California: more cuts lead to lower enrollments -- which lead to more cuts.
Aspiring college students need to simply plug on through these challenging times, keep enrolling in courses to pursue their education goals and have faith the system will be return to its former heights sometime in the near future.
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