{"id":367821,"date":"2023-10-31T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/?p=367821"},"modified":"2023-10-31T16:46:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T23:46:12","slug":"student-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/_ko\/education\/higher-education\/2023\/10\/student-services\/","title":{"rendered":"The need for student services at community colleges has changed dramatically since the 1960s. Has state law kept up?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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State law requires community colleges to spend at least half their general fund on instructors. But administrators say they want more flexibility to pay for the growing need for student services. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n

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On the shelf of an office in Coalinga sits a time capsule of sorts, transporting readers to the old days of community college. The book commemorates the 75th anniversary of the founding of West Hills College in Coalinga, featuring black and white photos from the 1940s, \u201850s and \u201860s. Young men and women, most of them white, hold books as they walk across campus. They pose together at the college dance or smile during football practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like \u2018Friday Night Lights\u2019,\u201d said West Hills Community College District Chancellor Kristin Clark, comparing the images to the popular TV show and movie about small-town America as she leafs through the book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town of Coalinga, located at the western border of the Central Valley, is still small and rural, but today, the college is more than three-quarters Hispanic and roughly 40% of classes are online. Many classes are offered through prisons, at a satellite campus in Firebaugh, or at nearby high schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That evolution is now at the center of a growing debate over a state law enacted in 1961. Known as the 50% law, it requires community colleges to spend at least half of their general fund each year on classroom instructors. That general fund represents most of Clark\u2019s annual budget for the college. While faculty say the law ensures that colleges focus on teaching, college administrators say it\u2019s outdated and that they need more flexibility in budgeting to meet the needs of students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur mission has changed drastically,\u201d Clark said. \u201cJust sending them into a classroom isn\u2019t enough these days.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly one-quarter of the state\u2019s community college students experienced homelessness in the past year, and many more struggled to afford food, according to a recent survey<\/a>. The Central Valley had the highest rate of food and housing insecurity among students, the survey found. Yet many of the services that colleges offer, such as technology and library materials,  food pantries on campus<\/a> and support programs for Hispanic and disabled students, do not count as instructional costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking into the library at West Hills College in Coalinga, Erick Morales and Raul Sevilla, both 18, are searching for Wi-Fi, not books. Even at the Starbucks in town, where Sevilla works part time, the internet is slow, he said. When the library closes, both students rely on Wi-Fi hotspots on loan from the library to complete their coursework. Those hotspots are not considered instructional costs either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Where is the money going?\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The intent of the 50% spending law was to keep class sizes small and to limit the growth of administrative positions, according to a paper <\/a>by the Community College League of California. On average, community colleges across the state spent 51% of their general fund on instructors in the 2021-22 academic year, according to the most recent data<\/a> from the Community Colleges Chancellor\u2019s Office. Many schools were just tenths of a percentage point above the 50% threshold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Clark and other college presidents see those numbers as evidence of the evolving role of community college, faculty leaders see evidence of administrative bloat. \u201cOur primary function is instruction,\u201d said Wendy Brill-Wynkoop, president of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. \u201cWhere is the money going? Are we using this money to support students or to support an administration that\u2019s larger than is necessary?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said many of the expanded services that colleges provide today are funded from sources excluded from the 1961 law. That\u2019s because the law only applies to money spent from a college\u2019s general fund and not to money received through restricted state grants or through philanthropy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere is the money going? Are we using this money to support students or to support an administration that\u2019s larger than is necessary?\u201d<\/p>Wendy Brill-Wynkoop, president of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, state legislators have earmarked a growing number of restricted grants to address historically underserved populations, such as former foster youth, undocumented, Black, Native and LGBTQ+ students, as well as for student needs, such as homelessness and hunger. However, college presidents say the state and federal money doesn\u2019t cover all of the costs for these programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June, Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez<\/a>, a Chino Democrat, asked the state to audit community college finances to evaluate compliance with the 50% law. Representatives from all of the state\u2019s 116 community college faculty unions expressed support for the audit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ \uc548\uc5d0 his letter<\/a>, Rodriguez referenced an audit from 2000 that found that multiple community college districts didn\u2019t comply with the law. He pointed out that the salaries of community college presidents and superintendents now average $284,504 per year, with the highest annual salary at $386,003. He wrote that the number of administrators has grown by 45% in the past 10 years, even while enrollment at community colleges has declined in the same time period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also cited an audit<\/a> from February that found the Community Colleges Chancellor\u2019s Office lacked oversight of money the Legislature earmarked to hire full-time faculty. In some cases, college districts didn\u2019t fully spend or misspent the money, the audit found. Rodriguez did not respond to requests for comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDistricts want flexibility, they want to get rid of reports, and they don\u2019t want to be accountable,\u201d said David Hawkins, legislative advocate for the independent faculty unions at 13 of the state\u2019s community college districts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legislators approved the audit request and it is currently ongoing. They haven’t set a publication date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The 0.1% that makes all the difference<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Clark\u2019s district represents two independent colleges, both called West Hills. One campus is in Coalinga; the other is 40 miles east in Lemoore. Both towns rely in part on agriculture, even as drought and flooding have created billion-dollar losses<\/a> in recent years. Last fall, Coalinga almost ran out of water<\/a>, only to suffer flooding months later<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many students qualify for the colleges\u2019 support services \u2014 and the numbers are growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re serving the most students we\u2019ve ever had since I came here five years ago,\u201d said Maria Gonzalez, an associate dean who oversees five programs at the Lemoore campus. Her office, which doubles as a storage unit, holds a stack of more than 20 instant pots, still in their packaging, that her team will distribute as part of a program to help low-income students with children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of her programs that focuses on disabled students is serving more than 550 people this fall, roughly 12% of the student body, she said. To assist these students, the college has dedicated counselors and specialists, as well as an office space where students who need extra time can take their exams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Student
Student Theresa Steele stands in the walkway on campus at the West Hills College in Lemoore on Oct. 9, 2023. Steele uses the free services provided by West Hills to help her get by in her classes. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout DSPS (disabled student program and services), I don\u2019t think I\u2019d be able to finish what I finished,\u201d said Theresa Steele, 58, who has limited mobility and learning disabilities. When she first enrolled in 2015 at the Lemoore campus, she said she didn\u2019t know about the college\u2019s support services and felt she \u201cdidn\u2019t fit in.\u201d She dropped out after two semesters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, she\u2019s back at school and uses accommodations set up by the college, such as a special chair for classroom seating and software that helps her take better notes in class. She\u2019s become a fixture on campus, serving as the commissioner of finance for the student government. Some students call her \u201cgrandma,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, West Hills College in Lemoore spent about $1.4 million on the disabled services program, half of which is covered by a restricted state grant. The rest came from the general fund and does not count as instructional costs under state law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re serving the most students we\u2019ve ever had since I came here five years ago.\u201d<\/p>Maria Gonzalez, associate dean who oversees five programs at West Hills College in lemoore<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In total, the district spent 50.1% of its general fund on classroom instructors last year. Had the district spent 0.1% less, the equivalent of $23,000, it could have faced punitive measures that include the loss of state funding, Clark said. \u201cWe\u2019re making decisions every day based on this law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The college has instituted a freeze on hiring new positions that aren’t defined as \u201cinstructional,\u201d and Clark said she has rejected requests for more academic counselors, librarians, and custodians in the past two years. Only the Coalinga campus has a security guard at night. She said the Lemoore campus can\u2019t afford one.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other state grants have created similar dilemmas for college leaders. In 2021, for instance, community colleges received $10 million dollars to spend over five years in order to establish LGBTQ+ centers or expand LGBTQ+ services. The money amounted to about $17,000 a year, on average, for each of the state\u2019s 115 brick-and-mortar campuses (Calbright College, the state\u2019s online community college, was exempt). College leaders told CalMatters it was not enough to hire staff.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trying \u2014 and failing \u2014 to reach an agreement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Administrators and faculty say they are open to reforming the 50% law so that it more accurately reflects the cost of running a college today, but they can\u2019t agree on how. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014, a task force composed of college administrators and faculty proposed a broader definition of instruction that included counselors, librarians, curriculum development and tutoring, but it also called on the state to raise the required percent above 50%.  The proposal made its way through the state\u2019s bureaucracy, but by 2019, it had lost support among administrators before making it to the Legislature, said Willy Duncan, president of Sierra College and a member of the task force. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a hearing on Rodriguez\u2019s audit, legislators and a representative from the California Community Colleges Chancellor\u2019s Office proposed expanding the audit. Instead of just looking at compliance with the 50% law, they asked if the state could also gather information on how much money colleges spend on \u201csafety net\u201d programs, such as food pantries or services for disabled students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have expanded the expectations of what schools at all levels do,\u201d said state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat from Encinitas.\u201d We just need the dispassionate analysis of what is happening so that we can evaluate it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Students
Students walking out of their classes through the hallways at West Hills College Coalinga on Oct. 9, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Brill-Wynkoop said one of the solutions she wants to see is to keep the 50% law but for lawmakers to provide more money in their grants for specific student services. \u201cWe\u2019re the least-funded per student of any public education system in California,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have enough money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Contra Costa Community College District failed to meet the 50% spending requirement. The district received a one-year waiver instead of a financial penalty, district spokesperson Timothy Leong wrote to CalMatters in an email. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though they\u2019ve made \u201ctremendous progress,\u201d he said the district will continue to struggle with the law as long as counseling, mental health and library services fall outside the definition of instruction. \u201cWe need to help our legislators and governor to understand and address this conflict,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam Echelman covers California\u2019s community colleges in partnership with Open Campus, a nonprofit newsroom focused on higher education.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\t\n\t\t

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She lost her financial aid while homeless. Newsom signs a bill that could help students like her<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t

To qualify for financial aid, students must maintain a certain grade-point-average, but many don\u2019t. A bill Gov. Newsom signed into law would make it easier for students to keep their aid and stay in college.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

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California community college enrollment is up, but one group of students lags behind<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t

After a historic decline in community college enrollment during the pandemic, students are returning to school again, according to the state\u2019s most recent data. But students between the ages of 20 and 30 are lagging behind.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\uc544\ubc14\ud0c0 \uc0ac\uc9c4<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby<\/span> Adam Echelman<\/a><\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t