The San Mateo Community College District is expecting an approximated $800,000 deficit in 2008.
The deficit Skyline has accumulated is estimated at 35% of the $800,000 in the district according to Eloisa Briones, co-chair of Skyline’s budget committee.
According to a report given during a Skyline budget committee meeting, the deficit is the result of a lower Full Time Equivalent Students (FTES) in the three sister colleges.
The FTES is the total amount of all billable hours students spend at a community college. This amount is then used by the state to determine how much funding a college gets.
“It is not just the head count of students that determine the FTES,” Briones said.
To put it in perspective Briones explained that in the past semesters, 15 units was equivalent to one FTES which in turn was worth approximately four thousand dollars.
Regina Stanback-Stroud, vice president of instruction at Skyline, says that the balancing class schedule of previous semesters also attributed to the deficit. Stanback-Stroud
said that in the pursuit of offering a wide variety of courses to the students, the efficiency in funding is set aside. As an example, Stanback-Stroud compared a specialized class with less than 20 people to a Math or Biology class that may hold more than 20 students. Electric bills and the salaries of the instructors are the same in both situations but the class with a lower enrollment is less cost effective because there are less people to pay the bills. Stanback-Stroud, assured students that even with a looming deficit, tuition will not change because only the state has the capacity to allow an increase.Skyline’s Faculty and staff were the ones at risk in the 2003-2004 school year. The whole community college district was forced to make large budget cuts because of a 3 million dollar deficit, according to Briones. Instructors were offered early retirement to prevent them from being laid off and office supplies were also scrutinized to save every penny.Briones said that slashing the budget is the last resort of the community college district and there are no plans to do so until all available avenues are taken. According to Jeff Westfall, a language arts instructor and a member of the budget committee, the district has proposed some ideas to equalize the estimated deficit.The district proposed corporate sponsorships to the new buildings, clamping down on unpaid tuition fees and offering the use of building 6 as an all purpose hall for the community to add extra funding for the school.Skyline college has also began a rigorous add campaign to increase enrollment. The school has sent numerous letters to parents of graduating high school and initiated the “Skyline at Serramonte,” in the previous month, according to Stanback-Stroud. One of the major plans of the community college district is to shift this coming summer semester to the next to compensate in funding, said Briones.The fiscal year of Skyline College starts from fall to summer, and the school is allowed to shift the number of FTES from a previous summer semester to the next to fiscal year compensate for the 2008. This shift will allow the whole district to balance out the deficit.Stanback-Stroud says that she feel good about the plans of the district and Skyline’s administration to equalize the projected debt in 2008. All the discussions and proposals are still tentative and would have to be approved by the governor in May, according to Briones. She explains the administration together with the district are only preparing for what they project would be a big problem in the future.
