Art takes time, time is money
Money's scarce and that ain't funny
Millionaires are things of the past
We're in a low budget film where nothing can last
Money's rare there's none to be found
So don't think I'm tight if I don't buy a round
  --Ray Davies

With enrollment up and budgets for community college doing no better than stagnating, EVC has begun an unprecedented process of canceling classes even before the start of the fall semester.

The EVC fall catalog, which students use to determine their schedule, offered 1,139 classes in the fall. More than 120 of those classes have already been cancelled, with plans to cancel an additional 80 classes during the first week of the semester once it is determined what classes will fall below 60 percent of the maximum enrollment or 18 students.

EVC is making the cuts with the assumption that they will have a budget similar to last year’s of $23 million.

The state of California is currently facing a $24 billion budget deficit. The recently approved budget included $9 billion in spending cuts. It is expected that state funding for the San Jose Evergreen Community College District will be cut between $600,000 and $700,000.

Meanwhile enrollment is up. While the last school year saw an enrollment increase of 14 percent, EVC head count as of Thursday, September 29, was up to 9,075 students, ahead of the enrollment last year of 7,841, a 16 percent increase over the previous year.

"We have an unprecedented onrush of students wanting classes," EVC President Dr. Clay Whitlow said. "We are being bombarded with students and at the same time our services are not being funded up to the same level as they have in the past."

The problem isn’t unique to SJECCD. With many of California’s universities closing off enrollment earlier than usual, state community colleges are left trying to figure out how to educate increased enrollment with decreased funds.

The state community colleges might need to start imposing admission standards to limit enrollment.

"The idea of selectivity is so foreign to the community college movement," said George Boggs, president of the American Association of Community College. "One of the most important values is open access, providing hope to people who otherwise wouldn’t have that chance."

The problem at Evergreen is exasperated by a budget deficit in excess of $1.5 million dollars from the 2001-2002 school year. The four-week intersession between the fall and spring semesters had already fallen victim to last year’s deficit.

For the fall semester Social Sciences, P.E. and Arts and Humanities departments were hit the hardest, with more than 90 classes cut prior to the beginning of the fall semester.

"This is a high wire act not a science," Whitlow said. "We do run the risk of hurting our enrollment by cutting so many classes."

While the cuts have many teachers up in arms the student body seems to be taking the cuts in stride during the first day of school on Tuesday, September 3.

The admissions and counselors offices didn’t see any significant increase in traffic or report any problems with irate students on the first day of school.

Kathleen Moberg, the new director of Admissions and Records at EVC said, "I can’t really talk about past years because I’m new here, but we expected a greater impact. Notices have gone out to students all summer and they have been proactive about changing their schedule."

She cautions that it is only the first day of school.

With 80 more classes to be cut following the first week, more direct impact to students could follow.