This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Challenging Times Ahead for Local Community Colleges

Tuition at Diablo Valley College and other two-year colleges expected to rise from $26 per unit to $36 per unit.

In the past, if you wanted to graduate from a four-year college, the most economical way was to attend a community college for two years, knock out your general education requirements, get your associate degree, then transfer to a four-year institution, and receive that coveted baccalaureate degree.  No employer is the wiser and you’ve saved a bundle. In common vernacular, this is referred to as the “2+2 approach."  It makes smart fiscal sense, right?

Fast forward to 2011: A tough economy, high unemployment, a housing crisis that depleted equity for many homeowners and you have a spike in high-school graduates and adults flocking to the community-college system in droves.  Community colleges across the country, particularly in California, are feeling the brunt of this seismic wave of student enrollment coupled with belt-tightening at the state level.

Elizabeth Hauscarriague, dean of outreach, enrollment and matriculation at Diablo Valley College  — commonly referred to around these parts as DVC — says the school has had to reduce course offerings over the past few years because of $400 million in budget cuts to the California Community College system.

Find out what's happening in Lamorindawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“It’s very challenging for students at DVC to complete their general course requirements in two years," she said. "The average student takes three years."

Hauscarriague said she anticipates that fees will increase this year from $26 per unit to $36 per unit at the state's 112 community colleges. Most students need 60 units to receive their asssociate degree and be eligible to transfer to a four-year college.

Find out what's happening in Lamorindawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The majority of students at DVC are competing for the same core classes —English, math and science — and most of these courses are impacted.  Another issue for DVC is that registration is offered on a priority system. First served are disabled students, then Extended Opportunity and Program Services students, or EOPS, which is designed to help low-income and educationally disadvantaged students. Next come veterans, then those closest to graduating.

Of the 22,000 students enrolled at DVC, first-time freshman will find it particularly challenging to get into those core classes. Their priority status is often among the lowest because they are just starting and have two to three years to complete course work. Also, the lower the amount of units one takes, the lower you fall on the registration priority grid. That has given rise to a proposal to place perennial students — those who accumulate credit after credit without ever graduating — at the back of the line.

In a recent study by the Pearson Foundation, a nonprofit educational think tank in Mill Valley, about 20 percent of 1,434 community college students interviewed in November reported difficulty enrolling in required courses for the fall semester.  About one in three had trouble obtaining a spot in desired classes.

Educational experts question whether community colleges can continue to serve as an effective bridge to the baccalaureate degree. While the new Pearson Foundation survey shows a majority of community college entrants aiming for a four-year degree, a recent report from the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that fewer than 12 percent of students who entered a two-year school in 2004 had a baccalaureate degree by 2009.

California continues to bear the brunt of the community-college enrollment explosion. Budget cuts in California could force the community-college system —the largest collegiate system in the United States, serving approximately 2.76 million students —to turn away about 350,000 applicants.

Despite the challenges at DVC and other California community colleges ,they remain an affordable alternative to a four-year institution. 

There are major benefits to attending DVC, according to Hauscarriague. There are no large lecture halls that are commonplace at most UC campuses. Many of the English and math classes have 20 to 40 students and a maximum of 90 for science. Hauscarriague praised DVC’s excellent counseling center, which assists each student in developing an “educational plan” complete with assessment testing.  This helps each student stay on track and move through the system.

DVC recently had its accreditation fully reinstated after three years on probation for problems including lack of administrative efficiencies and a failure to prove that students were learning critical skills. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?