Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 14, 1992 TAG: 9201140181
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
VA. STUDENTS TURNED AWAY COMMUNITY COLLEGES FEEL STRAIN OF BUDGET CUTBACKS
For the first time since the state's community college system opened its doors with the promise of providing an education to Everyman and Everywoman, students are being turned away - several thousand this academic year.Blame the state budget shortfall, which has cut an average $8 million per year from community college funding since the 1989-90 fiscal year.
"We're now stretching into the second and third years," said Joy Graham, an assistant chancellor for public affairs for the Virginia Community College System, the organization that oversees the state's 23-college system.
"It becomes an impossible thing to keep stretching. It's like a rubber band, and we have reached the point where we can't stretch any further."
Stretching dollars has in part meant cutting back on the classes offered, in many cases limiting the number of courses a student can take per semester, Graham said.
"This is the first time that we have seen so many students unable to take the courses that we hoped to be able to offer," she said.
At Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, Shantel Overstreet anticipated problems enrolling in classes this semester that are required for her radiology major. So intent was she on getting into the classes that she arrived at registration at 6 a.m., two hours before the doors opened.
"There were already people standing in line, the 22-year-old Botetourt County resident said. "When I finally got out, the line was all the way down to the road," she said, referring to Colonial Avenue.
Overstreet was placed on a waiting list for a chemistry class last semester and was later told that she could take a biology course in its place this semester. Though she was able to enroll in biology this semester, she said the course has a waiting list for others.
"A lot of people can't get the classes they want," she said.
Gov. Douglas Wilder's proposed $28 billion state budget would give state colleges and universities the authority to increase tuition up to 24 percent over two years. He coupled that with a proposal to place additional money in the state's discretionary aid program.
If the state Board for Community Colleges were to raise tuition, the fee per credit-hour would likely increase from $35 to about $42, Graham said.
"While we have gotten more financial aid to deal with that, it is still a concern that we would lose the sort of sense for community colleges - access to students who are in need," Graham said.
"We'd price ourselves right out of the market."
That disturbs some community college officials. Ed Barnes, president of New River Community College in Dublin, worried last week that students who were marginally able to afford a college education would be shut out, unable to pay higher fees.
The state board has been reluctant to raise tuition significantly unless sufficient financial aid was ensured "to reach those people who would not be able to afford it," Graham said.
In the past five years, tuition has gone up about $10 per credit-hour, much of that in the past two years, she said.
The system has grappled with increased enrollment and decreased funding. Since the 1988-89 school year, total enrollment at the state's community colleges has risen from 204,493 to 226,512 in the 1990-1991 school year, the latest annual figure available.
Funding has dropped about 5 percent each year since the 1989-90 school year, Graham said. And statewide, community colleges have been directed to trim another 5 percent from their budget for each of the next two years, she said.
Enrollment figures probably would be higher had the system not been forced to keep enrollment as level as possible.
Still, classes are at capacity in size, Graham said. Some classrooms are "woefully inadequate," she said.
The budget shortfall has also forced community colleges to rely heavily on part-time faculty, so much so that the full-time/adjunct faculty ratio has reached a "dangerous level," Graham said.
"We are about 57:43 statewide," Graham said. "The minimum ratio should be 70:30."
At some community colleges, including New River Community College, the ratio has reached 50:50.
"We're in danger of affecting quality programs - not just the quality, but continuity for students," Graham said. "A student could go a full two years and not ever have full-time faculty."
The long-term picture, however, is less clear but possibly more troubling. With budget shortages come student shortages, and in turn comes a shortage of available trained potential employees, in occupational fields in particular, Graham said.
"Some of the occupational fields will show additional shortages in the years to come if we don't have enough students," she said.