The human face of budget cuts

Cesar Cota, a student at LA City College, was the first in his family to attend college. "Now it's hard to achieve my dream,” he says, “because the state put higher fees on us, and cut services and classes."

David Robinson, who’s worked since he was 14, hoped he’d get automotive mechanic training, and a good job at the end of it. “But by cutting these programs and raising fees,” he says, “you're cutting opportunity for a lot of people who need it."

Another endangered student is Tina Vinaja, a mother of three teenagers whose husband took a weekend job to help pay her tuition hikes.

Monica Mejia, a single mom, wants to get out of the low-wage trap. "Without community college,” she says, “I'll end up getting paid minimum wage. I can't afford the fee hikes. I can barely make ends meet now.”

Small part of the picture
These students make up a small part of the picture of suffering engendered by the economic crisis in the community college system. According to Marty Hittelman, president of the California Federation of Teachers, and a community college math instructor for more than thirty years, the system will turn away over 250,000 students this year alone. “Where can they go?” he asks. “UC? CSU? The workforce? None is a viable option—for both economic and political reasons.”

March 16, Sacramento—Seven thousand students, faculty, staff and other community supporters, many of them traveling hours in buses from schools around the state, marched and rallied in front of the state Capitol on March 16 to protest cuts in public higher education.

[From the March, 2009 Community College Perspective]