Issue date: 9/17/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Martin Wood [Click to enlarge]

As the longest budget impasse in California's history drags on, many businesses that have contracts with the state are not being paid.

Sacramento State's College of Continuing Education is no exception.

The college along with other state programs is suffering a loss of revenue due to the lack of funding coming from state-run programs.

"We are non-campus oriented, so the client base is the state of California, private sectors … and individuals looking to improve working skills and leadership," said Alice Tom dean of the College of Continuing Education.

The college is not funded through the university's general fund. Instead it receives its money through contracts with state and private businesses.

However, Tom said they have braced for the changes and are still able to run all the provided programs thanks to a wide variety of options.

The college offers programs ranging from test preparation to meeting and event planning. Individuals can sign up for courses or companies can plan with the college to host programs designed to meet their business' needs, according to the college's website.

Primary funding for the College of Continuing Education comes from the clients. Tom said the majority of Sac State's College of Continuing Education clients are state agencies.

"We act like a private industry, customers come to us and develop business relationships," Tom said. "So sure it's affecting us, we have existing contracts to provide (services), some of them have been put into suspension."

Jennifer Helfrich, director of Extension Programs at the college, said they anticipated a late budget so before the school year began, they were already planning.

"We looked to take some of the courses and start them later in the year (or) add courses in the spring," Helfrich said. "Because we do serve government, we thought the passage of the budget would be late."

Yet, Helfrich said the entirety of the funding for the college doesn't come from the state agencies. About 50 percent of the programs at the college are for state agencies, Helfrich said.

Tom also explained that the college is now competing with other consulting and training programs because many people are losing state agencies as clients.

Because the state's budget is late more often then not, the college sets aside a rainy day fund, Tom said. So, although this budget is the latest in state history, she said the college is okay for a few more months.

"It's a continuing issue … there is always a possibility of this happening," Tom said.

However, Tom remains optimistic pointing out that so far, the budget is only a few weeks and it could be worse.

"If it's prolonged for a year, then we'd have an issue, but, it's only been weeks," Tom said.

So, along with other employees of the college, Tom said she will just wait for a state budget to be signed and move on from there.

"It's pretty much waiting it out, we are treated and seen as a vendor like anything else … (but) once the budget is signed … we'll move quickly," Tom said.

Each day, the number of participants in the college's programs changes because there is always a possibility that one or more state agencies will receive the "thumbs up" to train.

"They are all on a day-to-day suspension," Tom said. "(The number of participants) changes on a fairly regular basis."

For Helfrich, the hardest part of dealing with the stalled budget is the affect it has had on all Californians.

"I feel more concerned for the citizens of California that are not getting their services that the state usually supplies," Helfrich said.



University pays Cal Grants

Sacramento State is helping keep its students out of debt this semester.

The school has decided to award Cal Grants to qualifying students even though the state still has not passed a budget. The university is using money from its savings accounts to make sure financial aid is available.

Funding for Cal Grants, money given to students to assist them in paying for tuition, books and living expenses while enrolled in universities, has not been distributed to colleges and universities by the state because there is no budget in place yet.

However, many schools including Sac State and UC Davis have found ways to make sure students receive their financial aid.

According to the school's financial aid website, all State University Grants, Cal Grants, Educational Opportunity grants, and State Graduate Fellowships are still being distributed even though the state budget is still stalled.

Money for the funding of these grants is coming from the school's savings, said Emir Jose Macari, head of the University Budget Advisory Committee and dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. The state is expected to reimburse the university after the budget is passed.

Financial aid recipients received a message regarding this year's financial aid disbursements on the SacLink e-mail system, according to the financial aid office. Students were informed that their money would still be sent despite the current budget crisis.

Though some students at the financial aid office last week did not seem bothered by the fact that their aid is being paid out of the university's savings accounts, others think it shows a lack of responsibility coming from the Capitol.

"(It's) completely unfortunate that it's come to the point that in order to get work done at the Capitol, they have to take drastic measures to get anything done," said Rosie Downes, junior business major.

Downes said it is important to acknowledge the significance of the school paying for the state's lack of resolve.

"I think this shows a dedication about Sac State that they are willing to take care of their students, but it's just sad that the school has to take care of us," Downes said.

The financial aid administrators decided, upon hearing that student grants would not be paid by the state, decided to fund them anyway, said Craig Yamamoto, director of Financial Aid.

"Why did we do it? Because we know that students need those monies to pay their enrollment fees, books, living expenses," Yamamoto said.

Yamamoto also explained students still receiving money aren't being affected as adversely as those with competitive grants.

"If these are not included in the budget that would impact those students," Yamamoto said. "(But) if they do have funds, they will go ahead and award them."

Natalie Flynn can be reached at nflynn@statehornet.com

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