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DJ LILLY LOPEZ MIXES AT PALOMAR Read about the life and music choices of student Lilly Lopez, who DJs for KKSM on her show “Take a break with Lilly Lopez” Page 4
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the telescope Palomar College’s Independent Newspaper
the-telescope.com
Vol. 68, No. 13 • Monday, April 13, 2015
Students hired to retain, increase enrollment New priority registration available
JOEL VAUGHN THE TELESCOPE
Palomar officials have started a student ambassador program geared toward success for Palomar’s new and current students. With funding Palomar College has received from the Student Success and Support program, the faculty has invested in a student ambassador program. “Me being part of the student ambassador program is probably the best thing I’ve done at Palomar,” said Lisa Filice, the acting manager of orientation and follow up services at Palomar. She spoke on the importance of the student ambassadors not only trying to bring in new students, but also to keep the ones that Palomar currently has. “It’s really important for us to make sure that the community college helps as much as we can so that it brings those high school students and keeps the students that we have, but really helps prepare people in any stage of their life,” she said in reference to how the student ambassador program is working to help students. On what the requirements for being an ambassador are she referenced that, “you have to be awesome.” What being “awesome” entails is a focus on being both welcoming and willing to step out of your comfort zone. As she described it, “They have to be willing to say, ‘How
FAYE NOUROLLAHI THE TELESCOPE
Student Ambassador Edgar Garcia (left) reviews the current schedule with Lisa Filice (right), acting manager of orientation and follow up services at Palomar College. • Stephen Davis/The Telescope
can I help you?’ and step out of their comfort zone. We really wanted to make sure that student ambassador team was very diverse.“ The diversity was a key factor for deciding who they would take on to the team, this being that the student body at Palomar itself is
very diverse. The importance of not only reaching out to new students, but also helping and retaining the students that Palomar currently has is the main focus of the program. The ambassadors are striving to help Palomar’s current students get from their first steps
on campus to walking for graduation. This is achieved by the ambassadors being the in-between for individual students and faculty on a student-to-student level.
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Palomar has plans to stop deficit spending MIKE PETERSON THE TELESCOPE
Palomar officials are implementing measures to stop the college’s streak of deficit spending. Since 2011, Palomar has dipped into its Ending Fund Balance, which is the amount of money the college has leftover from a fiscal year, to pay for various expenditures. The balance has dropped from $18.4 million to about $8 million. The college staff has several cost cutting initiatives planned, including the Supplemental Employee Retirement Program, also known as a “golden handshake.” The SERP is offering an incentive for employees who want to retire early. The SERP is expected to save the district about $2.7 million, according to Ron Perez, vice presi-
dent of finance and administrative services. College officials are also looking at moving their health care services to another firm, which would save them around $600,000 to $1 million a calendar year. Palomar is also reworking their enrollment management, which is essentially cutting classes with lower enrollment numbers and increasing class sections with a higher demand. Palomar receives much of its funding from the state, according to how many full-time students are enrolled. The higher the number of credit hours taken, the more money Palomar is allocated. From 2010 to 2012, the state went through a budget crisis that forced them to cut funding for colleges across California. The college started deficit spending to avoid
Palomar College’s fund balance history. Mike Peterson/The Telescope
layoffs of faculty and staff, salary pay cuts or requiring staff to pay for health care. “We actually offered more classes than what the state gave us money for,” Perez said. “So we used our ending fund balance to offer those additional class sections.” The school was “way underfunded” for the classes they offered, according to Phyllis Laderman, di-
rector of Fiscal Services. Perez said that to meet the needs of students, it’s preferable to have more unfunded FTES if the college has the finances to cover it. Perez stated that the college’s fiscal future is looking good, but that “we’re not out of the woods yet.” MPETERSON@THE-TELESCOPE.COM
If you are a semester away from graduating or transferring out of Palomar College, then the college has a going-away present for you: priority registration. For the rest of Palomar students, Fall 2015 registration is moving from early July to May 26. A new priority registration group has been created, referred to as “Group 2.” This group is comprised of students in their last term of attendance prior to graduation or transfer. They will have the ability to register second only to Group 1 priority students, which is comprised of students from the Disability Resource Center, EOP&S, foster youth, CalWORKS, eligible veterans, and active duty military personnel. There are a total of eight priority registration groups at Palomar. Group 2 began in the fall 2014, Kendyl Magnuson, director of Enrollment Services said in an email. He added that the intention of creating this group was to allow students the best possible opportunity to finish up classes before they graduate or need to transfer, and thus is only offered, “one time in a lifetime.” A student looking to finish their final classes can submit an “Enrollment Priority Petition” form, available at the Records and Evaluations Office and/or at Counseling Services in the SSC Building, to apply to be in the Group 2 category. Magnuson stated that on the petition, the student will need to demonstrate they are about to enter their final semester at Palomar and list the specific courses needed to graduate and/or transfer. If approved, they will be assigned Group 2 priority for their last term. The form needs to be submitted no less than two weeks before the beginning of priority registration for that term. Magnuson added that regardless of how the last semester goes for the student, if they ever return to Palomar for additional classes they will not be eligible for Group 2 status again, though they are welcome to take more classes.
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