From enrollment rates and retention to parking concerns, as well as the possibility that the school might go into a budget deficit, the Pierce College Council (PCC) addressed multiple issues during a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 22.
Interim President Ara Aguiar said there has been progress with the recovery of enrollment rates at Pierce. She also discussed how all the colleges are working on a three-year projection plan to reach the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees goals regarding enrollment.
“Our enrollment continues to recover, we are 10 percent higher than we were last year at this time. The gap still exists [compared] to 2017, we have a 20 percent enrollment gap,” Aguiar said.
Due to the passing of bill AB 928, Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act of 2021, the college will be receiving state funds to implement the push for Associates Degree for Transfer.
“Any student that identifies their educational goal to be a transfer, that student will be assigned an ADT that aligns with that particular educational goal that they may have,” Aguiar said.
Barbara Anderson with the Guided Pathways Committee brought attention to their goal of holding a Pierce College Day on March 20, where they will bring middle and high school students to the campus so they can see what Pierce has to offer. This event is being organized with the CAP community.
Anderson said this would bring more awareness and help the president’s goal of increasing enrollment rates.
One of the goals for retention is to give students more options in gaining marketable skills, such as obtaining certificates during their path towards receiving an ADT. Another goal is to offer various student-focused activities that would give them extra reasons to come to campus, according to Anderson.
Given the increase of students, the council talked to Pierce’s deputies regarding the concerns over the parking situation. Parking permits are now mandatory for students, as well as faculty, and citations will be given out starting the last week of February. Students enrolled in nine units or more can get their permit for free and permits are also available for $20.
Safety concerns due to closed gates in Lot 7 were brought up by multiple members. One of the main gates remains closed due to possible tree hazards, creating congestion and causing students to be late to class. Deputy Isaac Jorge mentioned potentially hazardous zones are being marked off with cones.
Another topic brought up by Jorge is the option for three different training programs offered by the LA County Sheriff’s department. These are panic attack and de-escalation, workplace violence walkthrough, and active shooter training that can be scheduled by the interested faculty by contacting their deans.
Deputy Mike Sampson, with the transport unit, mentioned how Pierce has participated in these training sessions before. Sampson’s main goal is for the faculty who reach out to him to know there are resources available.
“‘I need training,’” said Sampson, referring to common concerns he has heard from faculty. “‘I don’t feel safe at work, I need help.’ And I don’t want you guys to think there’s no options, because your administration has contacted me directly and I want you guys to know that that’s an option that I do.”
There were comments about how the schools reserves are being allocated and how the cushion the school had made, due to being able to save because of the pandemic, is getting smaller. This led to the voting on whether Pierce should implement a Financial Intervention Team (FIT).
The vote was 13 members approving it with 3 abstaining their vote.
FIT teams are mandated by the district whenever a school is at risk for a budget deficit. The main objective is to steer a school into creating an action plan that would help them get out of this situation in the future, and Pierce’s Budget Committee had a document readily available showing that they are on top of it before it has reached that point.
The FIT team would consist of one representative from each CFO, College President, College Vice President, Guild, Academic Senate, Teamsters Local 911 and Faculty Guild.
Vice President of Administrative Services Rolf Schleicher was at the last meeting with the District where it was brought up at the Q1 meeting that their reserve was at $2.3 million. He compared the hidden costs of running a university to those of running a home.
“We’re hoping just to break even at this point,” said Schleicher, adding the other nine colleges in the district are facing the same concern about reserves.
