In response to a budget shortfall of more than $12 million, City College of San Francisco has axed virtually all of its summer programs for 2010. Students who had been hoping to move forward with their degrees will be forced to take the summer off — or scramble for rare spots at other schools dealing with similar budget woes.
“They cancelled the summer session?” responded City College student Tyler Morris. “I was going to take classes to work towards my bachelor’s degree.” Morris, 32 (and my co-worker), works evenings at an Oakland pizza pub and spent one recent semester getting up early after 1am shifts to take classes on airplane maintanence at an off-college workshop. After finishing his bachelor’s degree, Morris hopes to work in aviation.
The cancellations come after many classes were cut from winter and spring terms this year. The lack of required classes pushes back many students’ plans for moving on to other programs an entire year. High school students will be affected as well, as City College’s summer programs have helped them make up missing credits and move toward their diplomas in the past.
The Chronicle has the money quote from Chris Jackson, a City College trustee: “‘We’ll have a lot of young people out in the community this summer, and there won’t be any jobs,’ Jackson said ‘We’re going to have a serious situation. Summer is definitely when the violence happens.'”
Community college budgets statewide have been affected by California’s fiscal problems.
