Community College News

The start of a new school year is typically an exciting time for college students, filled with new professors, new material, and the promise of progressing further into higher education. However, for California community college students, those first days have been filled with worry and frustration as record numbers have been squeezed out of much-needed courses. Thanks to continued budget cuts throughout the state, more students are missing out on college classes that would help them advance their education and move into careers of their choice. Schools say they have no choice but to spend less, and students feel financial pain.

Tighter Finances All-Around

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that since 2008, the community college system throughout California has received $809 million less in state funding, which makes up around 12 percent of the system’s total budget. When lost funding is combined with the rising costs of running an institution of higher education, the financial deficits become even more pronounced. For example, Diablo Valley College, located in Pleasant Hill, California, has cut around $14 million from its budget since 2009 to compensate for a loss of $5.2 million in state funding and rising operational costs.

The Press-Enterprise states that community colleges nationwide are functioning on at least 12 percent less money than they had during the 2008-2009 academic year. To make up the difference, the entire system has resorted to “workload reductions.” The idea is to preserve services for students still enrolled in

Community colleges in California are struggling, and at this point, it’s anybody’s guess how the problems with higher education in the state will eventually shake out. While much of the late focus on California community colleges has centered on San Francisco City College's accreditation threats, this isn’t the only school getting low marks from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. Many two-year schools around the state appear to be in trouble, although some are currently in hotter water than others. Can these schools, vital to the student population and the state's employment outlook, pull themselves out of the holes they are slowly sinking into?

Accreditation Sanctions Running Rampant

According to a report in the Sacramento Bee, numerous California community colleges across the state are in trouble with the accreditation commission. Three schools, including San Francisco City College, face the most severe “show cause” sanctions. In addition, 10 campuses have been placed on “probation” status, and another 14 have received “warning” status. All the schools have been given specific guidelines to improve their status by the subsequent accreditation evaluation; however, the three schools in the direst circumstances also have the most work to do.

“The problems colleges have run into with accreditation are abnormally acute at this point in California,” David Baime, senior vice president of the American Association of Community Colleges, told the Sacramento Bee. “The colleges in California have been subject to such savage budget reductions that it has

In the remnants of the 9/11 terrorists attacks, few thought about one lone building from a local community college that was destroyed when the World Trade Center collapsed - except those who had come to call Borough of Manhattan Community College home. Over the next decade, the expanding college was forced to make other arrangements for holding classes – in the student cafeteria and temporary trailers set up in the vicinity of the original building. It was far from an ideal situation, with students reporting that the trailers didn’t always have working heat and served as a constant reminder of the terrible day when so many American lives were lost, including those of eight BMCC students and alumni.

But the school persevered.

This month, Borough of Manhattan Community College opened the doors of Fiterman Hall for the first time in more than 10 years. The beautiful new building is a reflection of light with windowed walls and a breathtaking lighted spiral staircase. It is a far cry from the smoke and debris that littered the area for so long. Now, students are preparing to take classes at Fiterman once again, in a brand new building designed just for them.

The Funding of Fiterman Hall

The day of the attacks, Fiterman Hall was damaged beyond repair. The building was finally razed in 2009, the year that reconstruction began, according to the community college’s website. Prior to razing, funding had to come in to pay for the project. The

San Francisco is in trouble, with a threat of accreditation loss looming and uncertainty over whether the school will even be able to remain open for much longer. According to many who have carefully examined the issues facing the college, the fault primarily lies with the school itself. From ineffective governance to mismanagement of funds, the City College of San Francisco is facing serious issues that could take Herculean efforts to overcome. Now, time is also running short for the school, as the accrediting commission has set a deadline in which the school must begin to show progress in improving their operations overall.

This video discusses how the fate of City College of San Francisco and its 77,000 students continues to hang in the balance.

Implications of “Show Cause” Rating

The accreditation commission recently gave the City College of San Francisco a “show cause” rating, which means the school shoulders the burden of showing why it should remain accredited. This sanction is the most serious of the three options an accrediting commission can offer. The San Francisco Examiner reports that a “show cause” rating is typically only given when an institution is in “substantial non-compliance” with accreditation standards.

Only two California schools have received similar ratings currently, according to the Los Angeles Times. College of the Redwoods and Cuesta College both are working their way through accreditation violations, in

The largest community college district in the country recently announced plans to move to the cloud, via Microsoft’s Live@EDU cloud suite. The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) has determined that Microsoft’s package will best meet the needs of its students, staff, and faculty. The rollout is scheduled for the beginning of the upcoming school year.

What the Cloud Can Do

According to a report at PC World, the decision by LACCD to move to the cloud began with a desire to have every student on each of the nine campuses obtain their own email account within the school system. This idea slowly spread beyond email capabilities to include IM, video, and audio conferencing and calendaring. The cloud suite will also allow students to prepare online documents to share, edit, and collaborate with professors and other students.

“Students and faculty, once they start learning all the capabilities, I expect they’ll realize it’s way more than email,” LACCD CIO Jorge Mata told PC World.

Some of the specific features offered with Microsoft’s Live@EDU include:

• Email and calendars with a 10GB inbox
• Additional file storage up to 25GB
• Instant messaging
• Video chat and audio conferencing
• Document sharing
• Mobile email
• Accessible through Web browsers for Mac, Windows, and Linux systems
• Easy to set up and manage

This video explains Microsoft's Cloud Services.

Until now, the nine campuses for the Los Angeles Community College District have determined whether to offer students the option