Closing the School Door

Just in time for the two major political parties to offer their different visions of austerity, the California Community College system released a report based on their survey of the effects of the budget cuts.  Not surprisingly, the cuts have dramatically reduced the ability of the Community College system to offer courses and opportunities for those seeking to enter higher education through the most affordable door.

As the Community Colleges report, enrollments throughout the system are down approximately 485,000 since 2008 and approximately 70% of the campuses expect to be enrolling fewer students this year than last.  70% also indicate that they will be offering fewer courses this year while over 85% report staffing cuts.  About 80% report having wait lists for courses this year.  As a colleague in the community college system pointed out to me, that 80% does not address the number of students who tried to get onto wait list but failed because there were no spaces.  The community colleges do not have the systems in place to track those students.

Not surprisingly, contingent faculty took an especially hard hit in these reductions: Over 75% of the colleges who reported staff reductions reported that they had reduced contingent faculty and the average reduction for the vast majority of campuses was just under 10%. (3)  Just over 1/2 of the campuses responding on staff cuts also reported cutting permanent faculty with the average being around 5%.  (3)  Campuses also reported reductions in classified staff, administrators, and especially regular staff. (3-5)

The staff reductions have had an impact on student life that parallels the faculty reductions.  Overwhelming numbers of campuses reported a reduction in staff hours and services, and an increase in the time that students needed to wait for appointments with staff. (5)

These reductions in staff and faculty are occurring at a moment when the State in conjunction with the Community College system have reordered priorities within the Community Colleges to increase the importance of counseling and to heighten the tendency towards the tracking of students.  Instead of structuring the Community Colleges as a site for people to reorder or enrich their lives, the emphasis will now be on students who come with a plan and a clear agenda.  The cutbacks in staffing and courses will reduce the chances for those plans to succeed of course.  But the combination of increased insistence on planning and reduced assistance for that planning will hit those (especially the poor and minorities) who have come to the Community Colleges without the support of previous advisers even harder.  Indeed, the end result of these intersecting changes will be to  make it more likely that large numbers of students will be driven out of the Community College system.  Instead of the first step in an expanding realm of opportunity they will have the gates of the schoolhouse closed before them.