Subscriber Comments for
The top eight administrative positions in City College's Con...

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COMMENT 320067	2012-09-14 03:45 PM
Where will the money saved firing these people go?
COMMENT 320079P	2012-09-14 04:05 PM
Wow i had no idea there were that many administrators in that division to begin with.
COMMENT 320080	2012-09-14 04:06 PM
It's time for seniors to stand up for themselves. Vote no on measures A, B, 30 and 38. Vote down any education measure that does not include funding for adult education. It's a sad day to see my community kicking old ladies down the stairs!
COMMENT 320091P	2012-09-14 04:21 PM
080, wasn't that why the community voted in 4 new Board members 2 years ago? To act as a voice for these old ladies, et al? To protect Adult Ed?
COMMENT 320095P	2012-09-14 04:30 PM
I am one of those "old ladies" The primary purpose of SBCC is to educate the young and people getting Associate Degrees. I do take Adult Ed classes, but have no objection to paying my own way. Just because I have lived for 72 years does not mean that the world owes me something that the young have to pay for. Those at SBCC pay by the credit hour a lot more than we are being asked to pay. If you want to play people - be prepared to pay. I am really tired of people who drive a Lexus, or a BMW, or a Mercedes whining about having to pay for their classes. My "kids" are all out of school. I believe in supporting public schools with tax money. 080 your suggestions is a path to ruin for the schools. I will vote yes for any and all tax measures that fund education and you should too. If you ruin the schools, don't be surprised when your housing values drop. People with children go where the schools are good.
COMMENT 320067	2012-09-14 04:46 PM
I am tired of "old ladies" using adult ed labs to make jewelry and pottery which they turn around and sell, but refuse to pay SBCC for the use of these labs. I am tired of the adult ed teachers who let this happen while they are supposed to be teaching students who have paid for the class. Stop it, SBCC.
COMMENT 320121	2012-09-14 05:05 PM
About time. That money saved, not one penny of it, will better the AA degree program, aka continuing high school, will ever make it to the students. By the way, stop with the threats. STOP SPENDING MONEY WE DON'T HAVE. If the people getting let go need something to do, they can help the indoctrinated mush minds wash cars for the programs the pensions take from the children.
COMMENT 320167	2012-09-14 06:44 PM
This is really too bad. These classes (and the people who run the program) greatly benefit seniors in this community.
COMMENT 320211P	2012-09-14 08:18 PM
And there will be free English lessons, with undoubtedly no checking on the immigration status of the students, but if an English-speaking Santa Barbaran wants to learn Spanish he/she will have to pay the expensive charges for foreign languages. --- City College will absorb the higher continuing education courses such as ESL, basic skills, and vocational studies and offer them as free credit courses, yet those who are bilingual get higher salaries. SBCC will absorb the costs only to learn English; seems unbalanced and unfair.
COMMENT 320167	2012-09-14 08:56 PM
Seriously, what is up with all the racist comments on here? Why is this turning into a place for people to ran about illegal immigrants? How is this relevant and why does it even matter?
COMMENT 320091P	2012-09-14 09:18 PM
121, I have no idea what your point is. Can you clarify, please? Thx.
COMMENT 320245	2012-09-14 09:25 PM
Everyone's got a bogeyman, 167. For some people it's illegal immigrants. And for a lot of people who become really focused on a single issue, it gets hard not relating that issue to everything. I'm guilty of it myself sometimes. Maybe just another example of our growing incivility and partisan divide over so many issues.
COMMENT 320258P	2012-09-14 10:48 PM
Bravo, 95P. Thank you for your insight.
COMMENT 320268P	2012-09-15 05:55 AM
I don't understand, just a simple businessman here, is there enough revenue from these classes to cover costs or not?
COMMENT 320067	2012-09-15 07:54 AM
There is sufficient revenue to cover non-credit courses the state has declared to be in their best interests to keep this part of the SBCC non-credit mission intact. There is additionally a great community need to expand these course offerings even further. These include the non-credit classes for workforce preparation and remedial college preparation. These non-credit courses receive enhanced funding from the state to order to incentivize their further development in response to local community needs.
COMMENT 320320P	2012-09-15 08:19 AM
I have noticed the change in Edhat commenters. It's less attractive for me to read the comments anymore because of the mean spiritedness shown. Much of the anger is based on untruths. The state of Calif. is still paying for all 10 categories of adult ed (parenting, older adult, health and safety and others). The state and community colleges realize the benefit to educating all segments of the population. All colleges, including SBCC, have priorities and they are honoring those priorities. Going to the extreme end and cutting all the state-funded adult ed classes except basic skills and work training is not necessary. Trim back the offerings, slim down the heavy admin structure, and continue to serve the community you are supposed to serve as it says in your mission statement.
COMMENT 320347	2012-09-15 09:09 AM
Serving the community is no longer SBCC's concern. The illegals and senior citizens are not the problem. The school should just change there name to Santa Barbara International College as the international students are the population that is best served at this campus. The school only uses ESL and basic skills students to apply and receive grants that are ultimately use on how to better any population but those two. It does not matter how many new board members are voted in, if the same people keep running the school.
COMMENT 320067	2012-09-15 12:07 PM
It will soon be Santa Barbara International College not because they serve illegal immigrant students, but because SBCC is rapidly increasing number of legal international students. These students pay full tuition which stays at SBCC. Increasing the numbers of legal international students is how SBCC now balances its budget.
COMMENT 320547P	2012-09-15 04:44 PM
Why is Andy Harper being let go? He is in charge of the Omega programs, among others, which operates wonderful programs in the retirement centers and nursing homes for people who are not mobile but who are able to still be part of the adult community. He is a kind man who should be retained. No, I am not a relative of Andy's but have observed him on Schott and Wake campuses. We need to retain caring, honest people like him. If he does leave, SB and Adult Ed will loose a good person.
COMMENT 320067	2012-09-15 04:52 PM
Instead of feeling bad that seniors in Santa Barbara are losing free adult classes, they need to feel good they are helping young people somewhere else in the state to get their first chance to go to college. These younger students are also on limited incomes and still have to pay $46 per unit to get their classes. Seniors giving up their free classes in Santa Barbara means a few more doors are kept open for eager young students elsewhere. Thank you Santa Barbara seniors for giving young people across this state a chance to start their lives out right. Wish them well. Your sacrifice is appreciated.
COMMENT 320320P	2012-09-15 06:07 PM
We do have a great community college in our midst. We are a one-college district (some districts have many colleges) so the community members depend on it to further their educational goals. The educational goal of most SBCC students is not to obtain a 4 year degree. We are not alone; other community colleges have a similar student population breakdown with regards to goals. That is the beauty of a community college. Student success means something different to each student, whether it's to improve writing proficiency, catch up on computer technology or maintain independent living skills as they age. Or, move on to get a degree. Although SBCC does take a certain number of International students - fewer than 10% of the total credit population and they pay very high fees to study here - the bulk of students are from California. That said, more than two thirds of the credit students are not from the Santa Barbara area. By comparison, in the CE division, the overwhelming majority live in the SB area full time. Guess who has a bigger impact on the housing market???
COMMENT 320067	2012-09-15 08:15 PM
If the overwhelming majority of SBCC senior adult ed students refuse to pay for their previously free life enrichment courses, what kind of effect does this have on the housing market? Please explain. Thnx
COMMENT 320603	2012-09-15 10:14 PM
I agree with 571P. We're lucky to have a very good community college that is so accessible. I lived in San Diego for some time and they have an excellent CC system there, too. Their non-credit program is much bigger than what we have here. Both my mom and dad, who are now in their 70’s, take free classes there. I'm grateful for it because it keeps them active both mentally and physically. In fact my mom volunteers at the parent ed class one day a week and she loves it. My parents immigrated from Europe and honed their English through our CC system. I hope SBCC can get through this adjustment period and come out stronger at the end. If the new president and the board of trustees listen to good advice from faculty, staff and the community, we’ll have a better adult ed program AND a better college overall.
COMMENT 320067	2012-09-16 09:21 AM
Looking up San Diego Community College District non-credit programs reveals something very different that just represented by the prior poster. San Diego non-credit classes similar to those SBCC has offered in the past are charged $5-$15 per class hour. SBCC is still trying to offer these closer to $3 per class hour. San Diego non-credit instructors do not make $65 an hour either like SBCC adult ed instructors make, yet San Diego charges even more. San Diego does offer a few free, limited topic classes for seniors, but these are spread out across their many campuses in a much larger district. There is no comparison between the two programs except to show SBCC is trying to keep class costs much lower than San Diego.
COMMENT 320067	2012-09-16 10:47 AM
Elements of the San Diego adult ed plan can work at SBCC: ---- charge more per adult ed fee class than actual costs, ---- pay instructors less ---- rely on volunteers to reduce over-head ---- collect this extra money from higher fees and lower costs ---- use it to subsidize a limited number of free classes for seniors. Increased donations from those who enjoy SBCC Adult Ed will help keep adult ed classes free. Irony noted.
COMMENT 320067	2012-09-16 02:51 PM
Bottomline: I want my adult ed class to stay free, and I want someone else to pay for it. Who would that be in today's state budget situation, when the state is already over-committed and every single department within the state is scrambling for fewer and fewer dollars? Reasonable answers considered. When you are operating in a deficit situation, every dollar already has ownership attached to it. Who will give up their dollars willingly, and who will you have to take dollars away from unwillingly? Spending additional borrowed dollars is not an answer.
COMMENT 320320P	2012-09-16 10:53 PM
0678, I'm not sure where you're looking, but I saw hundreds of classes that are free at SD. Look under the Emeritus program, or parenting or ESL. Tons more than SBCC.
COMMENT 320067	2012-09-17 08:46 AM
You need to look more closely at the overall San Diego non-credit program. Many of those "free" courses were held in nursing homes for seniors or offered very limited topics. The costs of their fee courses were stated up front to be $5-$15 per class hour, which is much higher than SBCC, so one could suspect those "tons of free courses" were subsidized by the higher fee non-credit classes. Particularly since San Diego pays the average $25-$35 per hour instructor compensation, instead of SBCC's much higher rate of $55-$65 per hour. SBCC's instructor compensation rates leave little left over to subsidize additional "free" courses for seniors. "Free" classes have to be funded by someone.
COMMENT 320067	2012-09-17 09:52 AM
SBCC is charting their own course and is not looking to any other colleges for help. Support the Center for LifeLong Learning with your cash and volunteer time so you can keep as many classes as possible free and their instructors well-compensated.

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