Many community college students across the state—at least those fortunate enough to weather shrinking aid, higher fees and fewer class offerings this Fall—won’t have the same problems for the winter semester.

That’s because a number of schools are eliminating the session for cost-cutting purposes, including Santa Monica College, which made the announcement last week. The school, which helped pioneer the winter sessions in 1992, had 11,385 students enrolled in 400 winter session classes offered this year.

As recently as a few years ago, about half of the college districts offered a winter session. But a recent survey of schools indicates that only a small percentage plan to offer the six-week sessions in 2013. Of the 112 community colleges in the state, 78 responded to the survey and only 12 indicated they would have winter classes.

Santa Monica took an $8 million budget hit in 2011-12 and hopes to save around $2.5 million by eliminating the winter session.   

The California two-year community college system is the largest in the nation, with 2.6 million students taking basic courses in English and math, participating in certificate and degree programs and preparing for transfer to four-year institutions. Elimination of winter session makes it more difficult for students to complete their studies on time.

Community colleges have seen their state budgets whacked by $809 million since 2008. If Governor Jerry Brown’s tax proposition on the November ballot fails, they will face another $338 million in cuts. Funding decreases have forced elimination of many class offerings. The result: more than 470,000 students statewide began the fall semester on a waiting list for at least one class.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

Santa Monica College to Scrap Winter Classes (by Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times)

Santa Monica College Joins Pasadena City College in Cutting Winter Session (by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, KPCC)

Impact of Budget Cuts Survey Questions (California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office) (pdf)

Historic Declines at California Community Colleges (by Ken Broder, AllGov)