Published 2011-12-13T20:28:00Z”/>

Griffin Rogers

Unable to turn students away and teaching some of them for free, Butte College has cut hundreds of courses in its curriculum, delaying graduation and transfer to Chico State.

In order to cope with a lack of funding from the state, Butte College cut 125 courses this year and plans to cut about 100 more next year, said Allen Renville, vice president for student services. The college has also canceled the 2011-2012 winter session for the first time.

The many cuts in the academic schedule are necessary, because enrollment has greatly exceeded the capacity of students the state is willing to pay for, Renville said. State funds cover 10,900 Butte College students, but there are 11,900 students currently enrolled.

“It used to be come one, come all,” Renville said. “But the reality is we can’t be everything for everyone now.”

Without being offered the crucial classes needed to transfer, students will have to sit out of college until the courses are available, he said. The wait could last up to a year, and then students will have to hope classes aren’t full.

Reprioritizing registration could help fix this problem, he said.

“We’ve never been in a situation where we can’t accommodate everyone who walks through the door,” Renville said. “So, the question becomes, ‘Who’s first?'”

Enrollment numbers for the spring 2012 semester show Butte College at 85 percent capacity, he said. Math, science and reading classes are 90 percent full.

That number doesn’t include the additional 700 students projected from new student registration over the next month.

“That’s how serious it is,” Renville said. “We are looking at a capacity we’ve never seen in history.”

Chico State is being significantly affected by Butte College’s situation, a problem experienced by most community colleges across the state, said Kathleen Kaiser, a statewide senator on the Academic Senate.

While Butte College doesn’t need any more students, Chico State can’t get enough, she said.

“We don’t get enough students completing minimum requirements for admission to Chico State,” Kaiser said.

The system is set up so that Chico State takes transfer students from the six community colleges in its service area: Butte College, Yuba College, College of Siskiyous, Lassen College, Feather River College and Shasta College.

Considering the distance between each of the six community colleges, Chico State has a wide area to pull transfer students from, Kaiser said. However, because Chico State wants highly qualified transfer students so badly, it goes out of its service region to recruit students from colleges near other universities.

“Some would say we steal their students,” she said.

In the 2010-2011 academic year, 48 percent of bachelor’s degree recipients were transfer students at Chico State. About 25 percent of those students transferred from Butte College, making it the largest pool of transfer students, according to Chico State admissions data.

The relationship between the two colleges is important, particularly when easing students over to Chico State, said Allan Bee, admissions director for Chico State.

“It facilitates our ability to serve those students,” Bee said.

The transition for students hoping to transfer to Chico State has been difficult as students that need one more transferable class from Butte College find out that it is unavailable, he said.

In other situations, students may take their final course for transfer in spring but fail the class, Bee said. They used to be able to retake the course during the summer if it was available. Now, Chico State doesn’t accept summer courses from students transferring that fall.

“They are out of luck with Chico State and out of luck with Butte,” he said.

Finding a way for students to complete their last transfer course while enrolled at Chico State isn’t a viable option, Bee said.

“We’re trying to look at ways to make students eligible, not provide exceptions,” he said.

Kaiser will be presenting the problem to the Admissions Advisory Council Friday for discussion, she said. A few strategies could help both Chico State and Butte College get back on track.

One method being considered is to give Butte College students with an excessive amount of units low registration priority at Butte, she said. Another option would be substituting certain courses for an academic competency test.

Butte College is looking to increase funds by targeting international students for admission, Renville said. Not only do foreign exchange students offer diversity and globalization to the college, but they don’t count against the enrollment cap ordered by the state.

The state pays Butte College based on each full-time equivalent student enrolled, Renville said. International students are a “bonus group” that brings more income to the college than local students.

For example, the state pays about $4,700 for a local full-time student. For international students, the state pays about $7,000 – money that Butte College gets to keep, unlike money from tuition increases, which goes to the state, he said.

Amid inadequate funding for Butte College from the state, international students have to pay a series of increased fees, Renville said.

“Our whole system was built around getting an inexpensive and accessible education,” Renville said. “But that doesn’t exist anymore.”

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<strong>Griffin Rogers can be reached at</strong>

<em>[email protected]</em>