With so many students vying for a shrinking number of classes at community colleges, the California Community Colleges Board of Governors is on its way to offering priority registration as a way of motivating students to develop and pursue an educational goal. At a public hearing in Sacramento this calendar week, the Lath agreed to put the issue up for a vote at its next meeting in September.

Under existing regulations, several groups of students are already allowed to spring to the front end of the line: agile duty military and veterans, former and electric current foster youth, disabled students, and students in the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS), for low-income, struggling students.

The proposal before the Board is based on one of the 22 recommendations in the terminal written report of the Community Colleges Pupil Success Task Force, which the Board adopted last January. Information technology would improve the electric current regulations by adding ii priority categories: new students who attend orientation, are assessed for higher readiness, and develop a Student Education Programme; and continuing students in proficient academic continuing. Poor academic standing means being on academic probation for ii consecutive terms or being something of a professional pupil by accumulating at least 100 units, far more than is needed for a degree or to transfer to a 4-twelvemonth college.

Although the recommendation wouldn't eliminate the existing priority enrollment groups, it does require those students – military, foster youth, EOPS, and disabled –  to meet the new atmospheric condition.

Chancellor Jack Scott speaks at a town meeting in Oakland last year on the Task Force on Student Success.

Chancellor Jack Scott speaks at a town meeting in Oakland last year on the Pupil Success Task Force.

"The proposed changes encourage successful student behaviors and ensure the system is intelligently rationing classes at a time of deficient resources to provide more students with the opportunity to reach their goals on time," said Chancellor Jack Scott in a written statement.

Lath member Geoffrey Baum said the proposal would ensure that students who are committed to succeeding in school have that opportunity. "The almost frequent complaint I go is from students who write that they tin't go their courses," said Baum, who also served equally president of the board of the Pasadena Area Community College District.

Since 2008-09, funding for California's community colleges has been cutting past $809 million. Colleges have responded past laying off instructors, reducing course offerings, and, in a number of cases, discontinuing summer school. As a consequence, the Chancellor'due south Office says 300,000 students who wanted to enroll were unable to get any classes.

Changes as well jerky

Advocates appealed to the Board not to put an additional burden on students who are already at risk. "I am actually concerned that, while nosotros desire to meet all students be successful, we don't want to run into that at the expense of our EOPS students," said Danita Scott-Taylor, Director of Student Support Services at San Joaquin Delta College. Several other EOPS administrators suggested that the Board of Governors cannot override state law. But Paul Feist, the Community College Vice Chancellor for Communications, said the legislation provides for Lath action.

"The Legislature gave those groups first enrollment inside the enrollment system that the California Community Colleges develop," said Feist. "Then the legislation does non give those groups priority if they don't become through assessment, orientation, and an instruction programme."

Even supporters have concerns, primarily almost whether they'll have plenty fourth dimension to put the new regulations into place, given the bear upon of budget cuts on personnel. Cabrillo College lost xv staff members in student services over the last few years, assistant superintendent Dennis Bailey-Fougnier told the Lath. "You cannot merely turn a switch and brand this happen."

Of deeper business concern to Aiden Ely, the president of the California Community Colleges Matriculation Professionals Association, is the lack of fourth dimension and staff required to develop each Student Education Programme. These are supposed to be individually tailored, comprehensive road maps of what each student needs to be successful – everything from fiscal assistance and courses students intend to take to tutoring and drug abuse counseling, he explained.

With just a few weeks between the release of the class schedule and registration for thousands of new students at each campus, he worried that many students won't get their plans done in time and others will cease up with hastily drawn upwards, impulsive documents.

"Is that the message nosotros desire to transport to students well-nigh student success?" Ely asked the Lath. "I call up it totally undermines what was envisioned past the Pupil Success Task Force, ironically."

His arrangement urged the Board to consider dropping the Educatee Instruction Plan requirement and just requiring orientation, assessment, and academic counseling. Otherwise, he warned, unprepared, young, offset-generation college students will rush into developing whatsoever kind of Student Pedagogy Plan equally a means to grabbing one of the brass rings of priority enrollment.

"You wouldn't believe what's going on out there right now," said Ely. "Students will do nigh anything to get a higher priority for enrollment. The number of students enrolled in (disability) services has jumped, not considering they need the services, just because they want to enroll early on." Information technology'south understandable why. Without an edge, many of them won't exist able to enroll in the courses they demand to complete a course of study.

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