Cal State Long Beach will be able to keep its existing spring 2010 courses, but students will have to compromise their summer session financial aid, according to Vice Provost David Dowell.
California State University Chancellor Charles Reed’s three-year plan to gain back the $564 million that the CSU system lost is still struggling to gain enough funding for upcoming years.
However, Dowell said the $1.85 million in federal funding that CSULB received in October helped the university keep a number of classes.
“The federal stimulus funding that CSULB received means that colleges do not have to cut or find other funding for about 200 sections,” Dowell said, “and it will mean that if colleges discover demand for additional sections, there will be resources to meet that demand.”
Dowell also said that CSULB President F. King Alexander will reserve about $500,000 of that funding to avoid the elimination of “key temporary staff positions” in areas such as student advising.
Mary Stephens, vice president for administration and finance, said CSULB does not expect the funding until mid-December, at the earliest.
“We will not incur expenses until spring term,” she said.
Dowell said the colleges are currently in the process of adjusting their spring class schedules to the expected enrollment change and budget restrictions.
Dowell also mentioned that there is a one-time sum of $44,000 that the school will receive for the spring 2010 semester. The money was won from a settlement of grievance.
“Because of the legalization of the settlement, the money has to be used to split large [lecture] classes into two smaller ones,” Dowell said.
Although there is additional funding for spring 2010 classes, financial aid for the 2010 summer sessions has been eliminated.
Students will be able to sign up for summer classes through the College of Continuing and Professional Education, which is self-supported. The college currently runs CSULB’s winter sessions.
Dowell said nobody wanted to take out summer session, but it was what the university had to do. Students will have to pay $250 per unit compared to $217 per unit last summer.
“It is pretty close to the state cost,” Dowell said.
The university is trying to keep summer fees down and keep it at about the same price as previous years. Only the larger lecture classes will be offered in hopes that it will allow for more available seats for the fall 2010 semester.
“Seniors will be given priority to summer classes, to get that one to two classes that are needed in order to graduate,” Dowell said.