Lin Zhu
A statewide budget increase for Disabled Students Programs and Services is expected to get the program at Pierce College out of the red in the 2006 to 07 fiscal year, according to campus officials.
There will be $15.4 million for a 5.18 percent cost-of-living-adjustment for specified categorical programs and $9.6 million for DSPS allocated to community colleges throughout the state, according to a statement issued by th California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office in Sacramento.
It’s still not clear when Pierce will be granted its portion, but the news gives the Special Services Office hope of being financially self-sufficient next school year.
“We are taking money from the college,” said Norm P. Crozer, director of Special Services. “It’s not a good situation.”
The DSPS at Pierce serves about 800 students on a yearly budget basis of $800,000.
There are two major types of programs running so far: one is the type of program for all the disabled students, like counseling, tutoring and testing services, priority registration and English classes for improving vocabulary, spelling and reading skills.
The other is the type of tailored services for students with certain disabilities such as sign interpreting for deaf students, special courses designed for deaf or learning-disabled students, mobility assistance on campus and wheelchair loan.
Pierce has one of the largest sign interpreting programs for the deaf in Southern California and it’s also the most costly part of the entire special services, said Crozer. Hiring and maintaining a professional interpreter team sharpens the financial dilemma faced by the office. According to Crozer, the cost of interpreters added up to $500,000 last year.
This fact helped widen the gap to where the office would no longer cover its own expenses. It resorted to the college to help pay the difference in cost, but Crozer didn’t clarify how much money was involved.
“The college has been superb about it,” said Crozer.
“They never complain, they never say anything like, why this is happening. They understand that our incomes are fixed, but the costs are going up and up and up.”
Joy McCaslin, vice president of Student Services, confirmed that Pierce may get a budget increase from the state to cover interpreter costs.
“That would be wonderful,” she said.
McCaslin said that the Special Services Office “does a great job in meeting students’ needs.”
In Crozer’s words, that’s “we tailor the service to students who needs.”
“It’s not a program for everyone,” he said.
Any student who’s in need can just walk in the office and ask for help. But Crozer also pointed out that there always has been a certain amount of students who are supposed to come but never show up.
These students fall into two categories: One type is the student who knows they have a disability but don’t come through either because they may not know where to seek help, they don’t think they need help or they don’t want to be associated with certain type of disability.
The other type, which always accounts for the larger portion, is the student who doesn’t know they have a disability because they are never diagnosed, which is a typical example of students who have learning disabilities.
“That’s the group of students we would like to reach the most,” said Crozer. “And that’s the group which is the most under-served.”