Official: Keep core classes

California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott on Wednesday painted a bleak picture of junior colleges across the state, predicting that next year’s enrollment will see a slight decrease after years of record-high student populations.

At a time when the state unemployment rate is 12%, and more people are turning to community colleges, Scott urged the colleges to focus on retaining technical training courses, transfer courses that allow students to apply to four-year colleges and basic skills classes.

“Even though we think that lifelong learning is important, perhaps cuts will have to occur in these areas,” Scott said during a conference call from Sacramento with reporters. “At least that’s what we’re suggesting to our colleges. We’re telling them to make sure and meet the needs of students first. Some of them have come to our campuses and want desperately to get into CSU and UC schools.”

At Orange Coast College, Scott’s directives are already in play.

The college is expected to cut half of its summer classes compared with last year, and is retaining those “deemed transferable” to four-year institutions, said Jeff Hobbs, OCC’s spokesman.

But the so-called “fun” classes, such as surfing, dancing and cardio-fitness, which offer little help in the way of preparation for the work place, will still be available, Hobbs said.

“We’re trying to strike that balance,” he added ,“but the core transferable classes are definitely staying in the curriculum.”

According to Scott, enrollment in California’s more than 100 community colleges is expected to drop by 1% next year for a loss of 21,000 students.

Although the numbers may not seem that dire, the decrease follows three years of steady growth in enrollment — as much as 5% each year.

Last year, the community college system set an all-time high, educating 2.89 million students in California, Scott said, an increase he attributed to a record number of high school graduates in California.

Now comes the anticipated decrease, Scott said, which is due to a decline in resources and a cutback in state funding.

“We took the hardest hits,” Scott said, adding that the system lost as much as 8%, or $520 million in state funding last year.

The loss has trickled down to many of the community colleges, including OCC, which saw a slight decline, about 800 students, in spring enrollment. The college also plans to cut a variety of classes this summer and fall but again will keep important transfer courses, Hobbs said.

The community college is dealing with $1.8 million in cuts instituted last year, including laying off nearly a dozen part-time employees and freezing 32 full-time positions, half of them faculty slots, Hobbs said.

Additionally, summer school classes and most campus operations for eight straight Fridays will be suspended in June, in what is designed as an energy cost-savings during the hotter months.

The thermostats around campus, including those inside the swimming pool, have also been altered by a few degrees, to generate a savings of $6,000 to $10,000.

The greatest savings, however, was found in the hiring freeze, accounting for nearly $1 million, according to OCC President Dennis Harkins.