tmes Serving San Jose City College
Vol. 45, No. 10
Thursday, September 19, 1991.
Budget cutbacks start to hit staff, students, faculty Kevin Moore Opinion Editor
Native Americans pose in authentic regalia before dancing. Hundreds of spectators also enjoyed Indian food, crafts, singers, and
displays at the Sixth Annual Indian Summer Festival at San Jose State University. Photo by Kristen Kirst
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Field Admit to ease transfers
by AnneEiena Foster Editor-in-Chief
You can turn in your admission application for San Jose State University, pay your fees and get your acceptance letter all in one day, all without leaving San Jose 1 City College. In "Field Admit," a new program organized between San Jose State and four local community colleges, transfer students can streamline their admissions process and eliminate a nerve-wracking wait for an acceptance letter. On November 18, representatives from San Jose State's admissions office will be at City College for a one-day Field Admit event. Admissions officers will be on campus with a portable computerlinked to San Jose State. They will be able to review applications and let students know on the spot if they are accepted. To be eligible for the faster Field Admit process, a student must have completed a Transfer Admission Agreement (T AA) with San Jose State through City College's
Native American Festival
Counseling Department. The student must complete_ 56 transferable units with a 2.0 or better GPA by the end of spring semester, 1992. Field Admit will accept students applying for admission for fall, 1992. "This is really a great thing for transfer students," said Counselor Zee Gibson, who has organized the event with San Jose State. "We're trying to simplify the transfer process more and more," she said. The Field Admit program is the latest in a series of efforts to increase the transfer rate of students from City College to fouryear institutions. Currently, the rate is about 25%, just over the state average of 22.3%. "We want to reduce any barriers possible," said San Jose State Director of Admissions Betty Sundberg. According to Sundberg, the two main objectives of the program are to shorten the time between when students.submit their applications and when they find out if they have been accepted or
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rejected, and to allow more time for students to plan for financial aid, housing, and educational direction at the university level. Typically, students may wait four months or more before finding out if they have been accepted to any of the State system universities. By the time students get the word, it is often very late to begin other planning and arrangements .. Transfer admissions agreements guarantee as tuden t that they will receive admission to the contracting university upon completionofamutuallyacceptablecourse of study. Students have faced frustrating delays in transferring after completing a course of study in a community college only to find that requirements have changed. Students completing TAAs will avoid those last minute shocks and can rest assured that their place in the four-year school is secured, as long as they hold up their end of the agreement and complete designated classes.
See Transfers, page 8
Motown by way of Dublin
Class cancellations, overcrowding, cuts in services and a possible loss of pay raises for faculty and staff are all outcomes of this year's tight budget. The operating budget of the San Jose City/Evergreen Valley Community College District, at $60,192,456, is up 4.5% from last year's $57, 568,821, while enrollment is up 3%, as well. Enrollment has exceeded the 1.5% growth cap that the state places on funding for additional students, which will cost the district around $3 million in lost revenues. San Jose City College will receive $23,121,990, up from $21,113,527 last year. A $21,241,554 share will go to Evergreen Valley College, up from $20,062,118. Districtservicessuch as Campus Police will cost $15,828,912 this year, down from $16,393,176. Thelowerbudgetfor District Services does not represent cuts; last year's budget included some "one time" costs which will not be required this year. Some classes have been cancelled both at City College and at Evergreen . Most City College students will probably not notice the cuts, however, because only classes for the Department of Corrections, and some classes for county employees are gone. Evergreen has not fared so well, with 120 sections canceled overall. The pre-summer session has been canceled, accounting for half the total cancellations, with 20 sections being cut from each spring and fall semester and 20 more being cut from various other areas such as the mini-semester courses, according toE vergreen Acting-President Ken Fawson.
The Evergreen class cancellations are in elective classes and there are fewer section offerings in low-enrollment major courses. "We're not opening new sections in classes that are full," saidFawson. State-mandated increases in services such as mecial participation for part-time instructors and parttime classified staff, combined with higher enrollment lead to de-facto cuts for students, and fewer course offerings than normally would be offered with thelargerstudentbody. "I think the impact on the students will be higher enrollment and fewer classes," said Mike Hill, assistant superintendent of administrative services. "Atthispointwe're fortunate that we haven't curtailed services to students ... we' re maintaining our program in a tight budget year." The district receives revenue from thestateLottoprogram, which amounted to about$1.5 million last year, and this year's budget is based in part on an estimate of about the same amount coming in. Overall revenues for the Lotto have been falling, but it's still too early to tell if there will be an effect on the district. Plans for the remodeling of the Student Union and other projects at City College have been in the works for years, and the funds to pay for those projects did not come from state funds but from the sale of land that was set aside for a third district campus that will never be built. There will be no cost of living allowance for faculty and staff from the state this year, according to Hill, but most of the teachers in the district are members of an independent union which negotiates its own contracts. "We haven't gone in with our salary proposals yet," said Faculty Association president Fran McBrien. "This district isn't broke."
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SoUice: Supremely Poli~cal, John Mossao
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