Financial crunch

“There’s thousands of scholarships out there,” Robinson said. “Students shouldn’t be afraid of applying. What I have seen in the past is students are not taking advantage of scholarships, and sometimes there’s scholarships out there that haven’t been utilized or awarded because there haven’t been enough applicants.”

According to Anafe, applying for scholarships will not affect pell grant or financial aid applications. However, it may reduce the unmet need students receive if the student wins a scholarship.

“If the student receives a scholarship, we will add that as an award,” Robinson said. “It’s not really reducing; it’s in a different bucket. You’re not really losing out, it’s just reducing for need-based financial aid. Only need-based financial aid programs will reduce if you are receiving additional scholarships, which is fine because you want free money instead of taking out loans.” sambravo.roundupnews@gmail.com

Meckler said this is an excellent way for students with little or no work experience to prospect the options available in the job market and begin acquiring professional experience. According to Meckler, Eureka Burger, located in the Woodland Hills Village, will be catering the event with food for attending students and faculty.

Career Guidance Counseling Assistant Lusine Koshkaryan is working closely with Meckler to assure the Job Fair is successful and students seize the most opportunities they can.

“The Job Fair is a great way for students to explore their major,” Koshkaryan said. “And see what field could spark their interest to point them in the right direction.” rarenas.roundupnews@gmail.com

Pierce College budget decreased by millions within the past five years

KAREN RUIZ Reporter @karenyRuiz11

The Academic Senate’s former treasurer stressed that the college’s budget has dropped by several million dollars since 2012.

Joe Perret, now a district academic senate representative, said during the Academic Senate meeting on March 13 that the college is paid by the amount of people taking classes here, and the cost have grown faster than the student body.

“In fact, we are not going to grow much next year, but our expenses have increased and that leads to a systematic dissemblance by spending more than we bring for the last couple of years,” Perret said. Pierce College may face a problem if the needed equipment is unable to be supplied due to a smaller population of students.

“We are now at the point where it looks like our reserved are going to fall below the required 5 percent of the budget. This means that when we start looking at what we can spend we are going to have to cut back,” said Perret.

Graphic design instructor, Richard Kamimura, said “the budget was actually the big one” and his department can be affected.

“I was really surprised that it drastically changed from what it used to be,” Kamimura said. “We have a really high demand in technologies, so when you apply for new technologies, it can possibly affect our major.”

The college’s budget has decreased dramatically within the past five years.

“Fiscally, it’s going to be tight next year. We had about 8.5 million in the bank, and based on this year’s budget we will probably end up with less than one million,” Perret said.

“We are going to fall below a certain amount of reserves, where the district is going to step in to help. It’s very serious”

The budget doesn’t go into effect until July 2017, so there may still be time to recuperate at least the require five percent Perret said.

Amir Haghi, ASO President, addressed the upcoming executive elections for the spring semester. He wants to change the voting system and discussed whether it should be held on campus mall or online.

“There’s ups and downs to both,” Haghi said. “We have to balance out how accessible it is and how practical it is to see how we can get the most amount of people to vote and how accurate we can have those votes be.” Should the ASO decide to hold elections online this will allow more time for students to make their voting decisions. If the elections are held on campus student voting time will be shortened.

Haghi also announced Pierce College will be changing its mission statement.

“Pierce College is changing its mission statement to make it more relative to millennials,” said Haghi. “This is important because it will not be changed for another 5 to ten years.”

Haghi said the new mission statement will go into effect in the Fall 2017 semester.

Maria Perser, instructor of psychology and statistics, said nominations are being accepted for Pierce College faculty awards, including Faculty Leadership Award and the Professor of the Year Award, until March 24.

“The awards have actually increased from $500 to $750 this year, which is a nice sum of money,” Perser said. “If you have wonderful faculty, please make sure to nominate them.” kruiz.roundupnews@gmail.com