State budget a mixed bag for colleges

Jeff Benson

California’s community colleges and universities felt a bit picked on

last January when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released his state

budget, which forced them to raise tuition and student fees. But he’s

putting a greater emphasis on easing those strains this year, as

proposed education spending is up 5%.

Schwarzenegger released his state budget Monday and painted a

slightly rosier picture for Orange Coast College, UC Irvine and other

colleges and universities.

If approved, it would provide a 4.2% increase in general-fund

spending over last year’s budget and would protect essential

education and social services, Schwarzenegger said in a message to

the state Senate and Assembly.

Orange Coast College was forced last year to raise its student

fees from $18 to $26 to help the state out of its jam, and UC fees

increased 10% for undergraduate students and 40% for graduate

students. The fees are expected to remain the same this year, Orange

Coast College President Gene Farrell said.

Farrell said the college should be able to add more classes within

the year, but he’s not holding his breath. The May revised budget is

the one that really counts, he said, and the January budget is rarely

a good indicator of what to expect for next year.

“We’ve sort of learned over the last hundred years that the

January budget doesn’t mean much,” Farrell said. “It probably won’t

be as good or bad in May as it was in January.”

The 5% increase is inflated somewhat by a 3% increase in student

growth, Farrell said. That money is paid to the schools after the

school year.

“The growth money is a political issue, and it’s put in to look

like the state’s providing access for students,” Farrell said. “It’s

kind of a paradox. They will fund an additional 3% of students, but

the problem is that we’re paid after the fact, not ahead of time. We

can’t afford to grow.”

For UC Irvine, the budget is good news and bad news.

UC Irvine vice chancellor for planning and budget Roy Dormaier

supported the budget overall because it honors a compact signed last

year between the state and the UC and CSU systems that allows for an

enrollment increase of 5,000 students statewide beginning next July.

In addition, the governor designated $300,000 to implement a new

program at UCI beginning next year. Prime-LC is a medical education

program for aspiring doctors who will work with the Latino community.

The program will start with 12 students and could grow to around 60,

he said.

The downside, Dormaier said, is that the budget is $17 million

leaner because it’s missing a large chunk the UC system received last

year and believed to be permanent funding. The UC system will likely

appeal the reduction if the budget is approved next summer as it

stands, he said.

The system would have to reduce enrollment by as many as 2,100

students or cut a portion of its student academic preparation

programs, which prepare students for university life, if the $17

million isn’t reinstalled in the budget, Dormaier said.

UCI students will also feel the brunt of the second year of a

three-year plan to raise enrollment fees by about 30%, or an average

of 10% per year.

As expected, student fees at UCI will increase 8%, or $457, for

resident undergraduate students and 10%, or $628, for resident

graduate students. Professional school fees will also rise as they

did last year, Dormaier said.

* JEFF BENSON covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at jeff.benson@latimes.com.