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2D Daily News – Thursday, September 27, 2012 LOS ANGELES (MCT) — Marianet Tira- do returned to Los Ange- les Trade Tech communi- ty college this fall, opti- mistic that she would get into the classes she needs to transfer to a four-year university. wanted, only two had space left when she regis- tered in May. She enrolled in those and "crashed" others. In one of those cases, she lucked out when the professor teach- ing a political science class admitted additional students. But she couldn't get into a biology class because she was too far down on the waiting list. If the math and English courses she needs aren't offered next spring, she may have to push back her plans to apply to San Francisco State, UCLA or USC. Of the courses she that Tirado may spend three or four years at what is supposed to be a two- year college. Her mother is puzzled who served as chancellor of the California Commu- nity College system for three years until retiring this month. "It's like a nice-looking car you've been driving for several years: It looks shiny, but the engine is falling apart," said Eloy Ortiz Oakley, president of Long Beach City College. "The wheels fell off the Master Plan 20 or 30 years ago. We're finally feeling the results because we have enormous needs for our educational sys- tem to produce qualified workers, and we're play- ing catch-up now." Community colleges staggering during hard times needs. "I've got it all laid out and I just need a big break and the classes — and that's the hard part," Richardson said. The vocational classes, "Because that's what we think community col- lege is," said Tirado, 24, a journalism major who lives in Watts. "It's hard to explain to my mom that I'm trying to go to school but the courses are not there." for Tirado and about 2.4 million other students in the nation's largest com- munity college system. The system is the work- horse of California's 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, which promised affordability, quality and access to all. In reality, the state's This is the new reality The consequences of not meeting those demands are huge: About 80 percent of firefighters and law enforcement offi- cers and 70 percent of nurses embarked on their careers in community col- lege. By some estimates, California will need 2.3 million community col- lege degree and certificate holders by 2025 to meet the demands of employ- ers. taken by Richardson and more than 800,000 others statewide, are funded at the same level as other academic courses — even though they can cost twice as much to provide. Scott, the former chancel- lor, said these costlier classes should be funded at higher levels. Some campuses, he said, have even been reluctant to add technical or vocational classes because of the cost. MCT photo Every desk is taken in professor Jeanne Neil's Accounting 101 classroom at Orange Coast Community College in Costa Mesa, on Sept. 10. college students qualify for fee waivers based on income. two-year colleges are buckling under the stress of funding cuts, increased demand and a weak record of student success. The situation can be seen on all 112 campuses — students on long wait- ing lists, those who take years to graduate or trans- fer and others so frustrat- ed that they drop out alto- gether. Most of them enter ill-prepared for college- level work. Eighty-five percent need remedial English, 73 percent reme- dial math. Only about of third of those transfer to a four-year school or gradu- ate with a community col- lege associate's degree. "We're at the breaking point," said Jack Scott, President Obama has described community col- leges as a major engine of job growth and set a goal of graduating an addition- al 5 million students by 2020. But in California, home to a quarter of the nation's community col- lege students, those efforts are hampered by the state's budget crisis. The colleges also play a vital role in the state's higher education system, preparing students to transfer to University of California and California State University campus- es. About half of all Cal State graduates began at community colleges. California's communi- ty colleges started early in the 20th century as off- shoots of high schools. Gradually they became separate junior colleges with a state-appointed Board of Governors. The idea was to offer free classes to high school graduates, people looking for job training and those who just wanted to take a music, art or language class on a neighborhood campus. enced explosive growth, peaking at about 2.9 mil- lion students in 2008-09, while funding grew to about $5.8 billion last year from $200 million in 1965. Community colleges The system has experi- They have been forced to dig deeper into their reserves or borrow money. The 90,000-stu- dent City College of San Francisco appears to be in the worst situation and faces potential insolven- cy. have three main sources of revenue: state funds, property taxes and student fees. State aid accounts for 61 percent of the sys- tem's budget. kept pace with enrollment growth. Funding per full- time student has declined from a peak of $6,400 in 2000 to about $5,000 today. Course offerings have been slashed by almost a quarter since 2008, and enrollment has dropped by 485,000 stu- dents since then. State funding has not Classes were free until 1984. At $46 per unit today, they remain among the least expensive in the nation. About 44 percent of all current community lege system is divided among 72 districts run by locally elected boards of trustees, which control their own budgets and the hiring and firing of staff. Four affluent districts — Marin, Mira Costa, South Orange County and San Mateo County — col- lect so much revenue from local property taxes and student fees that they don't qualify for most state aid. Still, with declining property taxes in recent years, they're not immune to cutbacks. Many other college districts that depend on state aid are in more seri- ous financial trouble. The community col- and be stable. Society needs an educated work- force, but it's going to have to invest more in education." Campuses are cutting counseling and tutoring and dropping winter and summer sessions, trends that officials say could accelerate if voters reject a November ballot mea- sure that would temporar- ily raise the state sales tax and the state income tax for high earners. With a 3.6 GPA out of high school, Eduardo Var- gas could have gone to a four-year university but chose East Los Angeles College because it was more affordable. During his first year, he was unable to register for any of the high-demand class- es he needed for his busi- ness administration major. This fall, he enrolled in honors classes — political science and statistics — because fewer students meet the requirements, so they're easier to get into. Even with an added speech class, he doesn't have the required 12 units to be considered full time. "I look at the time frame it's going to take me to transfer to San Jose State and it's probably two more years," said Vargas, 19, of Monterey Park. "It's not that impor- tant anymore if I get a high-paying job. I just want to get my master's A study by the U.S. Census Bureau showed that high school graduates earned an average of $25,900 per year com- pared with $33,000 for those with a community college degree and $45,400 for those with a bachelor's degree. College leaders have 47-year-old former secu- rity guard, is trying to complete a degree in elec- trical construction and maintenance at L.A. Trade Tech. He hopes to graduate next spring so he can become a union elec- trician, but he's not sure he can get the classes he begun to narrow the mis- sion of two-year schools, focusing more on job training and preparing students to transfer. To help move students more quickly through the system, the Legislature recently approved mea- sures that would set sys- tem-wide registration pri- orities, including prevent- ing students from repeat- ing courses to improve their grades and giving first choice to students who bolster their chances for success by participat- ing in orientation and aca- demic assessment pro- grams. For the first time, students would have to maintain their grades to continue to qualify for fee waivers. Keith Richardson, a Last spring, Santa Monica College proposed a controversial two-tier tuition plan to allow stu- dents with means to pay higher fees for sought- after classes. Officials said those students would be able to move through the system more quickly, and the added revenue would help fund addition- al classes for everyone else. But the college aban- doned the idea after Scott warned it could violate state education laws. Ultimately, community colleges must consider bold steps, such as shift- ing resources from less populated regions of the state to areas with larger numbers of young people and combining some smaller districts, said Scott Lay, president of the Community College League of California, a nonprofit association of the state's community col- lege districts. "I think we're finally at the point where the majority of districts ... have to realize that the landscape has changed," Lay said. Tirado, meanwhile, took classes at both Trade Tech and East Los Ange- les College last spring to fill out her schedule. This time around, she may need to find a biology class at another communi- ty college during the win- ter session — if she can find a campus still offer- ing winter classes. "Sometimes it's very discouraging to have to go through all of these obsta- cles to get an education," Tirado said. "But if we see it that way, we're not going to succeed." $109 Per Month No early cancellation, non-refundable Blinds Need Blinds? 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