California's Community Colleges Squeezed When They're Needed Most

With regard to the state's public college system in particular, enrollment at 103 of its 110 community colleges has surged more than 6 percent, or more than 150,000 students, according to California Community Colleges System Office. This a strong indication that, for many California students facing unemployment, wage cuts or admission caps at state universities, community college is perhaps as much a refuge from harsh realities as it is a place of higher learning.

Unfortunately, this surge in enrollment is being met with a 30 percent fee increase, from $20 per unit to $26 (about $780 per year for full-time students) as the state attempts to close its $26.3 billion budget shortfall. Though community college advocates were originally hoping fees wouldn't increase at all, this $6 hike is probably an acceptable change considering that the Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) suggested tripling fees. In fact, according to the LAO, even if the legislature fully applied this recommendation, "fees for a full–time student would still be among the lowest of the country's two-year public colleges."

As a former community college student myself, I know that even the $6 per unit increase is a hardship for many. It might not seem like a lot of money, but for those who hover above the poverty line and don't yet have access to fee waivers available to the most needy, the amount could very well be the difference between attending or not.

The fee increase isn't related to the higher enrollment numbers, so the system is simply tasked with doing more with less. And while the situation is difficult for all California public school institutions right now, I can't help but sympathize with my former professors, who are surely frustrated as they think of the courses that will be cut and of the additional students who will be crammed into their classrooms this fall.

Of course, it is not just California's community colleges that are under stress from the economic downturn. A survey recently released by the League for Innovation in the Community College and conducted by the Campus Computing Project indicated that the pressures of enrollment increases, coupled with course cutting, are affecting schools nationally. Among the survey's findings were striking increases in enrollment among full-time, part-time and transfer students. Offering more online courses seems to be one of the quickest remedies for dealing with these increases, but quality online education is still costly, according to the presidents of schools involved in the study.

Yes, making ends meet is a task that the U.S. community college system is used to. But this current education crisis, arguably the worst we've ever endured, threatens one of the country's most important public institutions – one that is obviously serving as a make-shift social safety net as unemployment rises and public services are cut. If there were ever a time to recognize the value and purpose of our country's two-year colleges, it is certainly now.