S.F. City College cancels summer session
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Thousands of students who expected to make up missed courses or simply move their education forward will have to put those plans on hold this year because City College of San Francisco is canceling its popular summer session.
The cost-cutting move has angered many students who say they were depending on summer school this year in particular because the college cut hundreds of courses during the fall and spring semesters, and they have been unable to get into basic classes they need.
"It's messed up," said Giselle Rouede, 18, who wants to be an emergency medical technician. She tried to take the EMT course in the fall, but it was full. It was full again this semester, so she planned to take it over during the summer.
"I was really disappointed," Rouede said. "If people want to be educated, they should be able to take classes."
College trustees axed the $4 million summer school program to help close a budget gap expected to top $12 million. All but some state-mandated vocational classes will vanish, leaving more than 2,000 City College students wondering what to do this summer.
"It's insulting, offensive and frustrating," said Alisa Vinokurova, 19, who wants to teach high school English and quit a full-time cafe job to work on her degree. Now it will take her longer to earn the degree than she had hoped.
"What am I supposed to do? Other colleges are overcrowded. This is definitely going to be stressful."
Few alternatives
Other community colleges in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and San Mateo counties say they have no plans to cancel summer classes. But with priority given to those already enrolled, will there be room for San Francisco students?
"Some of our own students may not be able to get classes," said Barbara Christensen, spokeswoman for the San Mateo Community College District, which is offering fewer summer classes than last year at its College of San Mateo, Cañada and Skyline colleges.
For the spring semester alone, the San Mateo colleges have a waiting list of 13,400 students. Many of them will be competing for available summer classes.
Statewide problem
Summer school is the traditional way for students to make up courses missed during fall and spring, but the state's budget crisis has forced community colleges to slash courses in every session.
Statewide, community colleges have had to give up funding in the current academic year for 95,250 full- and part-time students out of about 2.9 million, according to the state office of community colleges.
Community colleges lost 8 percent of their budget this year, or $520 million, the college office reported.
"Virtually every district is curtailing enrollment somehow," said Scott Lay, president of the Community College League of California, an advocacy group. Some are cutting back courses year-round. Others are canceling whole sessions in summer or winter. And some, like City College of San Francisco, are cutting both.
"It's heartbreaking," Lay said.
Several City College students said the summer closure is not merely inconvenient. It impacts their future.
Lisa Gearheart, 25, had been looking forward to applying to nursing school next fall after completing her last required class, physiology, over the summer. Now she'll have to wait at least one more year, she said.
"It's really upsetting," Gearheart said. "I can't move on."
Hundreds of San Francisco high school students are also among those affected by the closure. Last summer, 639 high school students flocked to City College, trying to get ahead or make up lost ground. Even more were expected this year because the school district just canceled most of its own summer courses.
"We'll have a lot of young people out in the community this summer, and there won't be any jobs," said Chris Jackson, a City College trustee. "We're going to have a serious situation. Summer is definitely when the violence happens."
E-mail Nanette Asimov at nasimov@sfchronicle.com. Comment here or go to
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/04/MNGF1BS143.DTL
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