The rough economy has definitely not stopped the demand in the market for people to attend a California college, if anything the recession has a counter cyclical effect causing even more people to seek out a higher education. Budgets in the UC, CSU, and California community college system have made it very difficult for everyone to get into school as they had planned. Recently state Chancellor Jack Scott said that California community colleges will educate roughly 21,000 fewer students in comparison to the prior year. As the funding has been reduced, the budget issues have caught up with the the community college system making it impossible to accommodate the number of people who want to enroll. Those students who are attending community colleges in California are also having difficulties, as they struggle to get into classes that are offered less frequently. Luckily their is still a big focus on keeping career-technical education, which is critical as these graduates are the ones who jump right into the workforce to apply the skills they have learned in college.
Another issue complicating things while dealing with the budget cuts, are that the students who are looking to travel to the University of California or California State University systems. These students need priority so the process of transferring continues, allowing students to move on and make room for new students to enroll. When you factor in that there are fewer classes, this makes it very difficult to have all of the classes students need each term. California community colleges, as well as the UC and CSU systems need to be very careful how they manage their money during these rough economic times so they can ensure that the colleges can remain open to let students earn their degree.
Tags: California Community Colleges, CSU, UC
