LTCC president talks about dollars, future of college
By Kathryn Reed
Money. It was the overriding concern of people asking questions of Lake Tahoe Community College’s president.
Steve Maradian, interim president of the South Lake Tahoe school, delivered a one-hour talk Friday about the state of the college to about 40 people – students, administrators, trustees, faculty, and staff.
Steve Maradian gives the state of college address at LTCC on Feb. 4. Photo/Kathryn Reed
Overall, his message was the college is doing well despite the chaos and uncertainly in Sacramento. But those unknowns about what lawmakers will do when it comes to funding higher education is what those in attendance wanted to hear more about.
Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing $400 million in cuts to the community college system. The best-case scenario is a $640,000 hit to LTCC; worst case is $1.7 million. The discrepancy is largely based on a possible June ballot measure Brown wants to bring to voters.
Maradian said because the board has made prudent fiscal decisions in the past, LTCC is able to pay its bills, unlike some colleges which are running a deficit.
LTCC has 7 percent in mandatory reserves or $960,000. Last year a rainy day fund was created which contains $750,000. Another reserve account has about $400,000.
“We’ll identify all the funds we can capture without hurting instruction,” Maradian said in regards to preparing the annual budget for 2011-12.
Maradian said the things the college can count on are tuition costs going up, health care being more expensive, and the state providing less assistance.
Flexibility is another word he used. It’s going to be needed as the state deals with its 11-figure deficit.
In his mostly optimistic speech from a podium on the stage at Duke Theater, Maradian asked the assembled group, “Do we dream big or do we not dream at all?”
“Dream big” was the answer.
But from there Maradian delved into the challenges the college is likely to face.
Providing non-credit fee based instruction is one area Maradian believes LTCC should explore.
He cautioned the governor might one day require a local parcel tax to fund community colleges. Maradian said he looked into property values of the college district and found the total to be $52 billion. If people were taxed $1 on every $100,000 of value for their property, the college could bring in $5 million.
Baccalaureate programs are the trend for community colleges, though not in California.
Maradian said more education opportunities are needed, especially as the population grows. The demand for higher education is outpacing the state’s ability to provide it. Cuts mean fewer classes, which means students aren’t able to get the education they want.
He posed the rhetorical question: What happens if one or two generations slip through because there are not enough seats?
There are 2.7 million students in California’s community colleges, with just 74,000 graduating each year, which includes those receiving certificates.
Maradian touched on the Title 3 project, saying a Datatel consultant was on campus two days this week to assess the situation. When the staff member who was in charge of the project had his job eliminated last month by the board it caused quite a commotion.
When pressed to elaborate more by a member of the audience, Maradian said the start date to use the software is now 2012, with some students and staff piloting the program before it starts.
“Buying time didn’t cost us money. It will make it more manageable to implement,” Maradian said. “It’s a more realistic approach.”
He added that the consultant would provide the college with planning documents to go through the process.
The article states there ae 2.7 million enrolled in CA community colleges, but only 74 thousand students gradutate each year. On a per year basis only 1 out of 18.25 students graduate.
This glaring anomaly must be explained.
A graduating rate of slightly over 5 percent is pathetic if these institutions of supposedly higher learning are doing their job.
What is the graduating rate for LTCC?
And Steve Maradian wants to extract more taxpayer money to pay for this college system that doesn’t graduate but a miniscle portion of its enrolled students.
There is a lot of explaining to do on this issue so let’s hear it.
I worked in a community college system for 21 years, and I know firsthand that graduation rates do not tell the whole story. Many people come to community colleges to upgrade specific skills, or to prepare themselves to move on to a university. These people will take the courses they need without receiving the 2-year degree. Many others already have degrees, but want to change fields. They, also, do not need to add an Associate degree to their resume, and might have to waste time re-taking basic requirements they’ve already done. Community colleges must serve these people and find another way to measure success.
Perhaps the Community College system would benefit from NOT wasting money. There is so much waste and inefficiency in the public sector. It is not that they don’t have enough money, it is that they waste it like it grows on trees. For instance, why to we now have another interim president? Didn’t they just hire one? Poorly done again. Just like the City Attorney fiasco. This process of errors that we all pay for has got to stop.
Hear! Hear! Michael, There is little or no accountability in the public sector to effectively spend and budget. They always come to the taxpayers for Bond issues or rate increases yet fail to use the cost cutting and oversight practices that the private sector has been forced to use since 2007.
In the private sector you increase your effectiveness to survive… In the public sector, poor foresight and planning brings a bail out and the continuing waste.
Review the courses being offered and eliminate those which don’t really support the education base to go on to graduate from a University. I would imagine you could save $1M from the LTCC budget through that process alone.
The way I understand it, our college is going to weather the budget storm better than most due to cuts that were made over the last two years. There are EXTRA reserve accounts available. How often do you hear of THAT when it comes to a public agency?
The Board and administration has been almost notoriously conservative in spending, and now the DIFFICULT decisions will have to be made.
Prepare for wailing and gnashing of teeth when you can no longer repeat your PE class six times or take ceramics for the umpteenth time.
The focus will have to be on transfer, basic skills, and vocational education. It’s not LTCC’s mission to give us cheap access to a workout facility or an art studio.