Last minute statewide funding cuts will result in more than $2 million sucked from EC’s reserve fund with budget deficits that could affect students next year, an administrator said.
“The $149 million in statewide cuts are the result of student fees not coming in because more students qualified for Board of Governors fee waivers,” Jeanie Nishime, vice president of student and community advancement said.
She said the college plans to use the ending balance from reserve funds to absorb the $2 million deficit.
“This year, we anticipated shortfalls and we budgeted frugally, so we’re not impacted as much,” Nishime said.
She added that the cuts will not affect students this year, but that the administration doesn’t know whether any additional cuts will result in changes this fall.
“Any further cuts could result in more cuts to course sections because the state will reduce our funding cap,” she said.
She said EC is only in the beginning processes of building its budget for next year, but will include several contingency plans pending the results of Gov. Jerry Brown’s statewide budget, which should be approved in the coming months.
While the college is facing possible funding cuts under the state budget, students face tightening restrictions on what’s left of student aid.
For his proposed 2012-’13 state budget, Brown would cut $110 million in funding to the Cal Grant program and would enforce new minimum grade point averages required for students to receive any Cal Grant money.
Brown said that limited financial aid resources should be focused on “those students who are most likely to complete their degrees,” and subsequently to contribute to California’s economy.
Many students, like Nick Coleman, 18, undeclared major, said that the new requirements are counterproductive and unfair.
“A lot of people would have to drop out of school for something as simple as not having good study habits,” Coleman said.
“It doesn’t mean they won’t graduate unless the financial aid that they rely on gets taken away because of it,” he added.
Opponents of Brown’s proposal argue that the reforms target lower-income students who often rely on the grants but may struggle to hit the proposed GPA marks.
“The idea of rationing out education to students with higher grades sounds good in theory,” Lyman Hong, English professor said. “When you put something into practice and it ends up having inequitable outcomes, you have to question the policy.”
Byron Maxwell,19, architecture major, said he disagrees with the changes.
“I believe everyone should have a fair chance at an education,” Maxwell said. “To assume that a student with less than a 2.75 GPA has less of a chance at graduating is stereotyping.”
He also added that there are many factors, like students’ living and financial situations that contribute to a student having a low GPA.
“One semester I can have a 2.75 and the next I might not because of other things going on in my life. For my aid to be taken away just because I had a bad semester isn’t fair,” he said.
The California budget is generally finalized in June and Brown’s Cal Grant provisions could go into effect as early as this school year.
Students submitting applications tomorrow may be finding out in summer whether continuing their education will even be possible without Cal Grant assistance. Many students could be awarded provisional grants, only to have them canceled just before their first semester.
Ramon Page, psychiatric technology major, called Brown’s proposals “a double-edged sword.”
“It weeds out people who are only at school for a financial aid check,” Page said. “It will also hurt people who are not the smartest students but are really dedicated to making a better life for themselves.”
