Comm/215 C
January 17, 2013
How State Budget Cuts Affect Community Colleges and Universities as Fiscal Crisis Looms An analysis of the public school system reveals one challenge facing community colleges and universities: Rising costs are putting pressure on enrollment or forced schools to limit the number of courses they can offer. Every year the result has been a dramatic drop in the number of students the system can afford to teach. Most colleges have also reduced the size of their staff, and provided fewer student services. Without staff, these young people fail to understand why they are unable to get an education or even graduate from a college or university. The best way to help students avoid budget cuts is Proposition 30, which will not only prevent a possible $6 billion in cuts to public schools and colleges, but it will also provide billions of dollars in public funding that schools at all levels desperately need. Taking this into account, this essay considers the pros and cons of proposition 30, particularly in the form of increasing the personal income tax of higher earning Californians by 1 to 3 percent for seven years. The students who go to a college or university right after high school would benefit immensely from proposition 30. These community college students may find it easier to get classes now that voters have approved a tax measure to help fund public education. Proposition 30 is aimed at sparing college students another round of tuition increases that will prevent them from getting classes. California's community college system will restore thousands of classes, which means putting an ease on a huge backlog of students unable to complete their degrees. Proposition 30 will make a difference this year by providing community colleges with $210 million in additional funds in 2012-2013 by adding approximately 3,300 classes to the spring 2013 semester. The passage of Proposition 30 means more classes for community