Sept. 5, 2002
INFORMATION: Robert Turnage, Vice Chancellor, (916) 323-7007

Chancellor Nussbaum Comments on Governor's Signing of 2002-03 Budget

SACRAMENTO ­ California Community Colleges Chancellor Thomas J. Nussbaum issued the following statement upon the governor’s signing of the 2002-03 budget:

“The State’s massive budget deficit will be felt by the California Community Colleges and our students in very real ways. While I recognize that the Governor and the Legislature have made sure, even in these most difficult economic times, to provide the community colleges with some increases for our core operations and for some enrollment growth, the reality is that our enrollments are growing much faster than the state support. Our students are beginning to see the effects as classes get larger, the number of available courses declines, and students learn they cannot take courses they need to graduate or transfer to four-year colleges and universities. California’s community colleges have been heroic in their efforts to do more with less. Our dedicated faculty, staff and administrators will continue to everything they can to meet the demand for community college education. But unless significant revenues are found in time for next year’s budget, we will be putting at risk higher-education opportunities for many of our state’s citizens, with potentially serious societal and economic impacts.”

The final 2002-03 Budget provides $4.9 billion in total funding for the community colleges system. This represents a net increase, after accounting for various cuts, of $84 million (or 1.8 percent) over 2001-02. However, since funded enrollment is expected to grow by 3 percent, funding on a per-student basis actually declines by 1.2 percent. Making matters worse, actual enrollments are growing close to 6 percent. Thus, the system already is serving over 40,000 full-time equivalent students —more than the entire enrollment of UCLA — without state funding.

The final 2002-03 Budget provides $110 million less than the previous year for various categorical programs that provide vital services, including: student counseling services, work-study jobs and other assistance for students who are CalWORKS recipients, and faculty and staff development. The final community college budget as signed by the Governor is $20 million less than the budget passed by the Legislature over the Labor Day weekend.