CSUN University News Clippings

Future worker supply at risk as cuts squeeze higher education

(June 30, 2009)

By David Goll

Employees at San Jose State University face the prospect of two furlough days per month. At the University of California, Santa Cruz, not only are employees dealing with potential furloughs and layoffs, but students will face fee increases of 9 percent. Students at San Jose City College may have to pay 30 percent more per unit.

Program and personnel cuts are not yet final, but fallout from the state’s crushing $24.3 billion budget deficit has higher education students, faculty, employees and administrators throughout California approaching the 2009-10 academic year with trepidation.

It doesn’t bode well for the business community, either.

“These cuts will really affect our ability to provide the kind of workers Silicon Valley needs,” said Pat Lopes Harris, director of media relations for San Jose State University.

The California State University system, with 450,000 students, is the largest work force generator in the state. Under a budget proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 23-campus system would lose $584 million.

The severity of this budget cut is unlike anything we’ve seen before,” said Lopes Harris, noting that 80 percent of expenses in the CSU system are for personnel. “Everything is on the table.”

Though UC Santa Cruz officials are not saying that yet, they anticipate having to make a similar amount of budget reductions in 2009-10. Since July 2008, the reductions have totaled $23 million, with $13 million of that cut becoming effective July 1. UCSC and its nine sister campuses are facing a $637 million budget cut during 2009-10 in the governor’s proposed spending plan.

Jim Burns, a UC Santa Cruz spokesman, said the university — responsible for generating $1 billion in annual economic activity in Santa Cruz County — is trying to minimize cuts in the classroom. But further reductions in salaries, personnel and programs seem unavoidable. UC Santa Cruz accepted about 1,000 fewer freshman this year compared with last fall to cut costs.

“We have been bracing for this for years,” Burns said. “We have been very conservative in hiring faculty and staff. But the next round of cuts, quite honestly, could be a staggering amount.”
State unsympathetic toward colleges

The California Community Colleges, the nation’s largest college system with 2.6 million students on 110 campuses, would lose $630 million in the governor’s budget.

“In my experience, this is an unprecedented situation,” said Ron Root, vice chancellor of administration for the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District, who is about to retire after spending 40 years in college administration

In recent years, Root said, state legislators had shielded the community colleges from Draconian cuts, recognizing the system’s historic role as being accessible to people of all incomes and as a major work force generator for California business.

“We have dodged the bullet before, but not this time,” Root said.

Assuming the state Legislature passes a budget this summer, Root said the district’s board of trustees won’t make specific reductions in programs and personnel until August.

Neil Struthers, CEO of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Santa Clara and San Benito Counties, said he feels the California Construction College should be relatively safe from cuts. The program, a collaboration of the district, labor unions and construction companies, is geared to mid-career construction industry tradespeople to learn about emerging technologies, including work in the region’s green tech sector. The four-year program to grant bachelor’s degrees in construction management in a new $9.5 million building at San Jose City College is scheduled to open this fall.

Struthers said besides district funding, local construction companies have pledged $600,000 toward the program, and another $500,000 in federal funds is being sought.

The San Jose City and Evergreen Valley college district with an annual budget of $101 million is facing a cut of more than $10 million in state support under the governor’s proposed budget and $8.2 million in an alternative spending plan proposed by Democrats in the Legislature, Root said.

An increase from $20 per unit to $26 is being contemplated to close the budget gap, which Root said could discourage thousands of low-income students from registering. That impact would be far greater if the recommended increase from the state Legislative Analyst Office is adopted. That office proposes a tripling of the fee to $60 per unit to bring California’s community college fees in line with those in other states.

“What may happen here is a fundamental restructuring of what the community colleges have always been in California,” Root said. “They may no longer be accessible to people of all economic backgrounds.”

At San Jose State University, officials are not discussing specifics of their campus’ share of the CSU system’s $584 million reduction. But they’re warning students, faculty and fellow employees about what’s to come.

“In the very near future, SJSU will need to make major changes to the way it does business in order to align our revenue and expenses,” wrote Jon Whitmore, campus president, in a letter on the university’s Web site.

Whitmore said the campus will also continue to limit hiring and salary increases. It will admit no new students for the spring 2010 term.

Because of previous budget cuts, the university has already reduced enrollment in the coming year by 3,000 students. But that was just the beginning.

“The severity of this budget cut is unlike anything we’ve seen before,” said Lopes Harris, noting that 80 percent of expenses in the CSU system are for personnel. “Everything is on the table.”

Publication: Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal