2:45pm | After speculation that summer courses may be canceled over budget issues, Long Beach City College announced today that one summer session of classes will be offered to students. Administrators made the decision in a meeting this morning, according to a press release.
“I am happy that the college has found a way to provide a more comprehensive summer session to help our students reach their educational goals,” said LBCC President Eloy Ortiz Oakley. He continued, “I want to thank students for expressing their thoughts and concerns and helping us arrive at this decision. I also want to encourage our students who need courses to enroll quickly because the courses will fill up fast.”
Classes will run from June 21 to July 29. Students can find registration info at this site.
For the past two years, community colleges have felt increased strain as more students have looked to them instead of more expensive four-year universities for higher education, as well as workers looking to increase their job prospects by attaining a degree. The press release noted that LBCC has already educated 900 more students than the state of California will provide funding for this year.
The college made further reductions to its summer schedule to offset reductions in state funding, allowing the offering of summer courses this year. Summer school classes will focus on transfer preparation and degree attainment, presumably as a means of offering classes that will move experienced students out and into a professional or university.
The outlook for summer school in 2011 is not yet clear, although further reductions will be needed and administration will have a better idea next January when budget issues are more clearly known.