Community Colleges

Community college student Kristen Grand dreams of transferring to Cal State Long Beach so she can earn a bachelor's degree in social work and become an adoption caseworker. But the process of accumulating the right course work and filling all the requirements is overwhelming, the 26-year-old says. "It's kind of stressful," Grand said after class at Long Beach City College one afternoon this week. "Finances, for one, and whether I'm going to get the right amount of counseling to figure out what I need to do."

Foster Washington knows the odds are against him. The Los Angeles Southwest College student is a 20-year-old from a tough neighborhood in Watts where, he says, there was little encouragement or preparation for college. Recent studies suggest that students such as Washington are the least likely to stay in school, get a degree or transfer to a four-year university, hampering their future job prospects. But Washington is determined to be the first college graduate in his family of 12 siblings.

California's community colleges were envisioned by the state's Master Plan for Higher Education as a low-cost alternative for students to complete the first two years of college before transferring to a four-year school. They were also designed for students whose ultimate educational goal was to attain an associate's degree or career certification. But a report issued last week calls into question the success of those missions. The report, issued by the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy at Cal State Sacramento, documents abysmally low student transfer and completion rates at the state's community colleges.

California community colleges were struggling Tuesday to absorb an unexpected $149-million budget shortfall that will mean more class cuts, layoffs, borrowing and probable elimination of summer programs affecting thousands of students. In the latest fallout from California's ongoing fiscal crisis, the state's 112 community colleges reported that revenues from students' fees are $107 million below projections for the current fiscal year as more economically strapped students seek and receive fee waivers.

The governing board of California's community colleges approved reforms intended to streamline the path to graduation and transfer for thousands of students. The California Community Colleges Board of Governors endorsed the policies at a meeting Monday in Sacramento that featured more than three hours of public comment, including vigorous opposition from many students who argued that the plan would penalize low-income and other disadvantaged students. The reforms were suggested by a statewide task force that met for a year to consider how to improve outcomes for more than 2.6 million community college students at a time of dwindling state support.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants California to get its priorities straight. Over the last three decades, the state's investment in universities has eroded while prison spending has shot through the roof. It's "out of whack," says Schwarzenegger. To remedy that, he would guarantee that no less than 10% of the state's general fund budget go to the universities by 2014, a doubling of their current share. He also wants the deal written into the state Constitution -- both to show he's serious and to commit future governors to the plan.