At Citrus College Adjuncts Bear Brunt of Budget Cuts

The California state budget crisis is likely to get worse before it can get better.

When the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released its five-year fiscal forecast for California in late November, it was anything but good news. The LAO projects that the governor faces a $21 billion deficit.

With reduction in revenues, required repayments to local governments and workload increases the hope that California will recover without any additional cuts or increased taxes has been destroyed.

For continuing and new students at Citrus College, the state budget crisis means fewer classes offered with less chance of actually being able to register for those courses available.
According to the section comparison provided by Samuel Lee, dean of language arts and enrollment management, winter session 2010 has seen a 34 percent reduction in classes offered compared to winter session 2009.

During the spring 2009 semester, Citrus offered 1,090 class sections.

Due to the budget crisis, 175 sections have been cut for spring 2010, meaning a 16 percent reduction in classes.

“I think the cuts to class offerings makes registration even more stressful for students than it should be because of the fact that there is less space available,” said administrative justice major Mariana Gonzalez, 18. “I was definitely stressing out before my registration date.”

It’s not only students who are being affected by the cuts, but part-time faculty are also bearing the brunt of budget woes.
According to Lee, winter 2010 session courses are assigned to mostly full-time faculty.

Most of the sections cut for spring 2010 were typically taught by part-time faculty in the past years.
Administrators at Citrus project shrinking funding through 2014 and have had to change their strategy on building semester schedules.

They plan to build the schedule on an annual basis rather than on a term-by-term basis, as they have done in previous years. Planning and posting course schedules earlier will allow students to plan farther ahead.

They will develop three schedules throughout the year based on certain scenarios. All scenarios are going to be based on the number of full-time equivalent students (FTES), which is currently at 11,500.

Lee said they plan to build with students primarily in mind rather than faculty and who can teach what.

To build the three schedules based on those scenarios, administrators will look at previous enrollment patterns and transfer needs.

“We’re painfully aware that there are not enough classes being offered,” Lee said. “We want to avoid cutting more programs because we know it hurts the student’s ability to finish his/her plan on time. Unfortunately the cuts already have.”

Lee said students can expect further class cuts for summer 2010 and fall 2010, but not at the level of previous cuts.

As there are fewer class offerings, new students have a greater chance of not being able to register for the classes they want or need.

There are some ways to minimize the impact of this course crunch.

One tip is to know the roll-out dates for the winter and spring semesters because if a student is unable to pay for their classes, a new student can take their seat.

Another tip that Lee suggested for new students is to take any class at any time just to be in the system. More importantly, do not drop the class and make sure to pay for it on time.