Issuu

The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton

Tuesday September 18, 2018

Volume 104 Issue 8

CSUF ranks low in funding per student

Cal State Fullerton has the most full time equivalent students yet has the lowest funding per student. HOSAM ELATTAR News Editor

Cal State Fullerton receives the lowest funding per full-time equivalent student in the Cal State University system and has the most enrolled students of any CSU, according to a 2018-19 general funds ranking from the CSUF Resource Planning and Budget. Concerns over CSUF’s state funding were addressed at Thursday’s Academic Senate meeting. “There is no question that we as a campus, we as a system, have been called upon or forced to do more with effectively less,” said Fram Virjee, CSUF interim president, at the senate meeting. CSUF receives $7,024 per full-time equivalent student (FTES), a calculated enrollment average by the university which depicts a certain headcount value. The university currently has a total full-time equivalent student enrollment of 28,937 for the year of 2018-19, according to the same campus funding rate ranking statistics. Irene Matz, a member of the senate who has served as associate and interim dean of the College of Communications at CSUF for eight years, said CSUF receives the least funding per full-time equivalent student because the sum of money allocated to each university depends on how they were classified in the past.

Campuses with slightly smaller full-time student enrollment rates and similar demographics receive “tens of millions of dollars more” than CSUF does, Virjee said. If CSUF were to receive the same sum of funding per full-time equivalent student as Cal State Long Beach, the

university would get $15 million dollars more each year, Virjee said. “I believe this is the result of a formula that was created many years ago that I have no reason to believe they didn’t think was fair and equitable at the time, but it’s not now,” Virjee said.

The issue has been brought up at Academic Senate meetings to at least four previous presidents who promised to talk over the matter with the chancellor at the board of trustee meetings, Matz said. She said CSUF presidents have to do more than just “revisit

that conversation.” “What we need is to be steadfast in getting us from that bottom position and putting us in a position that is more equitable for our population,” Matz said. SEE BUDGET

Executive order changes Nursing student given CSU GE requirements $50,000 by Ellen DeGeneres New updates can help graduation rates but potentially hurt professor positions. AURIELLE WEISS Staff Writer

Chancellor Timothy P. White issued an executive order in August 2017 requiring Cal State Universities to change general education requirements. The restructured requirements were recommended by faculty, students, administrators and the Academic Senate CSU “regarding how systemwide general education policy can better,” according to the order. Executive order 1100 claims to “clarify requirements, ensure equitable opportunity for student success and streamline graduation requirements,” according to the CSU website. The new requirements took effect this fall semester. According to White’s memorandum to the presidents, enforcing the policy is the responsibility of Cal State University presidents. At the Academic Senate meeting Thursday, faculty took the opportunity to address Fram Virjee, Cal State Fullerton’s interim president, with their concerns. Robert McLain, CSUF history professor, said the changes will negatively affect CSUF professor jobs stating, “there will definitely be layoffs of our part-time lecturers if the GE changes go through.” “It troubles me that I’ll probably lose colleagues. Mainly because of the loss of the second half of (World Civilization) in the GE category, which was

listed as a strength of our school over other Cal States. That was what made us different,” McLain said.

Virjee said the policy changes are correlated with the CSU’s Graduation Initiative 2025, a CSU effort to increase graduation rates for all students while keeping “opportunity and achievement gaps” in mind, according to the CSU website. The executive order states that if a student decides to change their major having already finished their general education requirements, those units will “double count” toward their new desired major. Virjee said when certain classes are no longer a requirement, students may stop taking them. Although these classes will still be offered, less professors will be needed to teach the now elective classes, but Virjee said the results of this are still unknown. “We haven’t done anything yet so we have to see. We don’t know what the effect will be. It may very well be that many students take those courses even though they aren’t required,” Virjee said. However, Virjee said that no professors have been laid off and the 2025 initiative will most likely lead to the hiring of more faculty. “It could lead to professors being laid off. But it could also lead to the hiring of more professors. In order for us to graduate students sooner, that means we have to offer more classes,” Virjee said. “To make more classes available to do that, we have to hire more faculty.” SEE EDUCATION

TANYA CASTANEDA / DAILY TITAN

Lauren Wakefield, nursing student, became a Titan this semester.

A CSUF student hit the jackpot, paying off her student debt. BAILEY JONES

Asst. Lifestyle Editor

Student loans are daunting for college students across America. That’s why when Lauren Wakefield, a nursing major, saw Ellen reach out to her college audience on social media about debt she instantly responded.

Wakefield, 29, shared why she planned to attend Cal State Fullerton in the fall 2018 semester. She received her bachelor’s degree from Johnson University in Tennessee for management of nonprofit organizations and knew she wanted to help people in the nonprofit arena. She volunteered at a crisis pregnancy center, and helped teen moms and women in crisis pregnancies. After six years of seeing how the work of the nurses impacted

their patient’s lives, she decided she did not just want to volunteer as a nurse; she wanted to be a labor and delivery nurse. “I just want them to know how loved they are, how much their babies are loved, that they are so special,” Wakefield said. Wakefield was accepted into the accelerated nursing program in the spring and is currently in her first semester at Cal State Fullerton. SEE ELLEN

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