The Transfer Center is located on the first floor of the Science Hall where students go to get counseling and information on transferring to a university. ISAAC CRUMMEY / THE GUARDSMAN

By Don Clyde
STAFF WRITER

California State University’s decision to reject most admission applications for the spring 2010 term will impact hundreds of City College students and may further stress the school’s resources.

The decision was made in order to tackle its $584 million budget reduction. CSU campuses operating on the quarter system stopped accepting applications for the winter term as of July 6, 2009.

Public higher-education institutions across California took massive hits in order to close California’s $26.3 billion deficit for 2009-2010.

Students who planned to enroll at CSU campuses during the spring 2010 semester will now need to decide whether to stay at City College, join the work force or consider other options, according to Leslie Smith, City College associate vice chancellor of governmental relations.

“If one-third of the students are accepted to CSU in the spring, the impact could be tremendous,” Smith said.

Data from the Office of Research, Planning and Grants at City College shows that about one-third of City College students who transfer to CSU do so during the spring term. During spring 2008, 462 City College students enrolled at CSU and another 601 enrolled during spring 2007, research officer Steve Spurling said.

City College plans to cut 800 total classes during 2009-2010 to meet its own budget shortfall of $18-$20 million. About 270 classes were cut for fall 2009 and the additional 530 classes will be cut in spring 2010.

Smith says that classes might fill up quickly if full-time students once destined for the CSU 2010 spring term decide to stay at City College, especially given the large number of class cuts scheduled.

“Given our reduced state funding and the fact that we have been forced to cut the number of classes we offer, if students cannot gain access to other institutions and need to turn to City College, they may not be able to gain access to the classes they need,” said Peter Goldstein, vice chancellor of finance and administration. Enrollment at City College is higher than it has ever been, according to Goldstein.

Even though student demand for spring classes is enormous, some classes may be salvaged through unique ideas such as private sponsorship of individual sections, Smith said.

The admission cuts are just part of CSU’s push to slash enrollment over its 23 campuses by 40,000 students during 2010-2011, CSU spokesman Erik Fallis said. CSU campuses typically accept about 35,000 students during the spring term.

CSU is currently accepting admission applications for the fall 2010 term.

“Apply as early as possible and try to apply to as many local campuses as you can,” Fallis said. Prospective students can visit http://www.csumentor.edu for application information.

Greg Smith, associate vice president for planning and enrollment management at CSU East Bay, wants to help transfer students increase their chances of getting into CSU East Bay in fall 2010.

“We’re going to work with community college transfer students to make sure they’ve completed all the required courses to enroll,” he said.

CSU East Bay is one of the few exceptions to the spring and winter 2010 enrollment cuts. But the campus is only accepting a total of 500 enrollees for the combined spring and winter terms. Furthermore, those 500 enrollees will only be accepted in the following majors: business administration, engineering, geology, mathematics, physics and statistics. There is no application deadline, but applications will not be accepted after the 500 are enrolled.

Enrollment reduction is not the only thing CSU is doing to save money. Fallis said mandatory furloughs for CSU’s 47,000 employees would save an additional $275 million. He also said fall 2009 full-time undergraduate fees rose by twenty percent. This fee increase is added to the ten percent fee increase undergraduates adopted last May. The fee increases would raise an estimated $157 million.

By Alex Emslie
Opinions and Editorials Editor

“I find it quite alarming and in some ways disrespectful,” said District 11 Supervisor John Avalos of the proposed San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency budget passed by the Board of Supervisors May 27.

The SFMTA’s $128.9 million deficit projected for fiscal year 2009-10 caused the agency to include a 50 cent hike to MUNI fares and a $10 increase to fast pass prices which took effect on July 1. Cuts and reroutes of bus services are scheduled for mid-October. The board approved the budget in a contentious 6-5 vote at the special meeting.

“I do feel that this could be much better,” District One Supervisor Eric Mar said. “It’s still an unbalanced and unfair budget that doesn’t share the burden with riders and drivers.”

Dissenting supervisors wanted to see more revenue from parking fee increases and less from MUNI fares. SFMTA Executive Director Nathaniel Ford acknowledged that more money could come from parking fees and said the agency would revisit that source over the next 90 days.

City College student and MUNI operator Emanuel Andreas, who recently founded the Bay Area Transportation Advisory Committee to act as a mediator between operators, their union and the SFMTA, said he would like to “completely reject” the budget and “start from scratch.”

“We don’t want the same type of thing next year; coming up asking for more money from working class people,” Andreas said. “The deficit is not going to go away until there is a structural change within the organization.”

The BATAC would like to see administration shoulder some of the burden of the fiscal crisis. “We want them to cut down at least five percent from management,” Andreas said.

“The fact that you may be adding services to other lines that are around it misses the underlying point,” said District Nine Supervisor David Campos to Ford, “which is that people who live in [Alemany] projects are now going to have to transfer to get to the supermarket.”

Campos was referring to the 67 line, which services parts of Bernal Heights, Alemany Blvd. and Mission Street. The western portion of the 67 loop is scheduled to be cut. Although Mission Street would still be served by the 14, eliminating half of the 67 loop ends direct service from Alemany Blvd. and Bernal Heights to the Mission.

“This is the only bus that runs by here,” said MUNI patron Naz Romero, as the 67 began its descent from the top of Bernal Heights. “This bus has always been in my neighborhood.”

“[The 67] runs sparse as it is. For those of us who live on the top of the hill, that’s a pain,” said Paul Wilson, another MUNI rider. “It’s terrible,” he added about the cuts.

Board of Supervisors President David Chiu said San Francisco’s $500 million deficit would “make this debate look like child’s play,” before voting to approve the SFMTA budget. “This is not the last word of this body on MUNI,” he added.

Information on MUNI service cuts and fare increases can be found at www.sfmta.com
Information on the BATAC can be found at www.baytac.org

Hundreds of San Francisco State University students protest the new proposed budgets cuts to education. Education could be cut an additional $3 billion. KAREN M. KINNEY / GUARDSMAN

By Lauren Tyler
Staff Writer

A few hundred San Francisco State University students gathered on their campus on Nov. 12 to protest proposed budget cuts to the California State University system.

SFSU students were in an uproar because the university has proposed to move early registration dates back and eliminate many upper division courses.

“I may not be able to graduate with the classes that may be cut,” said Colin Cahill, a third year anthropology student, stating a common fear of SFSU students.

Katrina Perigo, also a SFSU student, said with an additional $61 million in possible cuts to the annual budget, the budget will “leave no upper level segment three courses,” which are required to graduate.

“We are just holding our breath,” said City College Vice Chancellor of Finance Peter Goldstein at the Sept. 26 board of trustee’s meeting about the state’s tumultuous impact on City College’s budget, though from the information provided by the state last month Goldstein said, “we do have a balanced budget.”

The Community College League released an updated budget on Nov. 11, which said the Legislative Analyst’s Office has proposed community colleges receive a reduced reimbursement rate for non-credit classes. Also, the analyst proposed that community colleges should raise the tuition rate from $20 per unit to $26 per unit starting on Jan. 1, 2009 and increase it to $30 per unit on July 1, 2009.

Community colleges are expected to lose $290 million from the lack of reimbursement. In addition, “colleges would not be able to keep the $120 million from increased rates,” said the LAO.

City College has approximately “$200 million in operating expenses annually,” Goldstein said. There is a sufficient amount “of resources to cover that with a small surplus,” this semester and to protect the school from upcoming cuts, according to Goldstein.

Preventative measures were also taken to protect City College from mid-year cuts. The college has held back on counting on some of the “If we [the college’s revenue] get adjusted downward by $2.7 million, then we don’t have to dip into our reserves,” said Goldstein, referring to the college’s budget, was built upon higher revenue than the current expected state income.

The legislature’s delay in coming to an agreement on next year’s budget made deciding on City College’s 2008-2009 budget a difficult task. The college had not received funding checks from the state for three months, hence the budget was overdue. The college began receiving checks again in mid-October.

According to John Bilmont, City College’s Chief Financial Officer, City College used approximately $25 million over the three month period in day-to-day costs before receiving any checks from the state. In addition, there was also a surplus from the last budget year. City College in the end “checked out” with $2.9 million surplus, but this amount would not even cover two weeks of the college’s payroll, which is approximately $7 million, said Goldstein.

According to Goldstein, City College borrowed money from the City and County of San Francisco to cover funding during the first three months of the 2008-2009 fiscal year, with the option to borrow up to $40 million. City College is now paying three percent interest to the city on the money that it borrowed, as it had no other choice without state assistance.

“[City College] had to borrow more than ever, and it will cost us more than ever,” Goldstein said.
A few pivotal steps were taken to decrease spending during the planning of the present budget. City College reduced its reliance on outside consultants thus saving hundreds of thousands of dollars and has left vacant classified positions unfilled, according to Goldstein.

Taxes and cuts are the big issues at hand for balancing the 2009-2010 California state budget. In a Oct. 29 Los Angeles Times article, the governor told education leaders in a private meeting to expect an additional cut of $2-4 billion “to close the state’s yawning budget gap.”

In the article, Kevin Gordon, a lobbyist representing hundreds of the state’s school districts said “they put together a budget with fake numbers … I don’t know how schools would keep their doors open with cuts of this magnitude.”

At the end of the day, the chancellor’s philosophy is to protect the students, Goldstein said. “To ensure there is no change to the cost of tuition and the abundance of programs offered at City College.”

If the worst-case scenario does happen and there are mid-year cuts, the college’s budget may have to be revisited in January 2009, Goldstein said.

BY KAREN KINNEY

Contributing Writer

Unless California lawmakers can agree on a state budget already two months overdue, disbursements of over $600,000 for Financial Aid and state funded programs like EOPS will not be available for City College students this September.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislators are currently deadlocked over a decision to approve a budget for the state of California. The legislator has drafted a budget that proposes no costs to community colleges, while the Governor says a $450 million shortfall needs to be addressed with fewer student services and fewer courses offered. The Governor’s budget proposal includes a three-year increase in the state sales tax by 1 cent per dollar as well as additional cuts and limits on spending that would allow the state to save money.

Those plans, which the governor had revealed to legislative leaders during a private meeting Aug. 3, so far have failed to win endorsements from lawmakers.

EOPS receives money from Cal Grants and according to Jorge Bell, Dean of Financial Aid, there are approximately 13,000 students enrolled in the program with another 5 to 6 percent still planning to apply this semester.
“My main concern with the state budget not getting signed is without the disbursements of the Cal Grant funds, many students will carry a heavy financial burden going into the 2007-2008 school year.” said Bell.

Bell also said that some proposed cuts include reducing supplies and the amount of money for book vouchers.

“With a big demand for services and more needy students, hopefully the district can help pick up the slack.” said Bell.

The truth is, until the budget is signed, City College does not have a definitive answer on what programs will have cuts or by how much. In addition, if the budget is not settled by the middle of September, the college will need to borrow from the state or county treasury to meet its payroll.

According to Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration Peter Goldstein, City College feels prepared to deal with potential pending disbursements of Financial Aid and face any questions in the future.

“We took a cautious approach and tried to start our fiscal year in a conservative way.” said Goldstein. “We have developed a conservative set of assumptions if the Governor’s version of the budget comes through that would protect the college.”

Both Bell and Goldstein are urging students and voters to call local government and insist lawmakers assign a budget and share how this budget standstill will affect their lives.