Economics Department
Budget Cuts Did Not Deter the Quality of Education
November 13th, 2012
Addendum to Program Review
The Impact of Budget Reductions on Economics Department
The ongoing budget crisis that has plagued the state of California has had a negative impact on our College and our Department. A data analysis of total numbers of sections offered, indicates that this Department experienced a 33.33 % reduction in number of sections offered during Spring semesters, from 12 section in 2008 to 8 sections in 2012. The situation for Fall semesters is the same, with respectively 43 % reductions in sections. Being concerned about this major reduction, Economics faculty lead by the Department Chair, engaged in a more purposeful examination of cuts and made sure that this cuts will have the least negative impact on students who need these courses for their transfer/AA degree. First of all, this department made sure that the cuts will not disproportionally put some students at a more disadvantage. We made a detailed analysis of enrollment in evening, versus day course, online and hybrid courses, and decided to first cut an evening course that did not have high enrollment. Then we eliminated an online course, given that we had two online courses.
Our efforts had paid off, as we noticed that 33.33 % reduction in sections for Spring, reduced student enrollment only by 5 %.
However, the Fall to Fall comparisons presented a different situation. From Fall to Fall (2008 is used as a comparative base) this department experienced a 43 % in sections offered and an equal amount in student enrollment. Given that the cuts in both scenarios were given the same attention, Economics faculty had to sit down and have a purposeful discussion as to what was the reason behind such a major reduction in student enrollment. The evidence pointed out to lack of sufficient counselors during Summer. Economics courses have a new pre requisite which requires that all students complete Math 203 or higher in order to enroll in econ courses. During Fall semester, when enrollment for Spring classes takes place, all counselors are presents to clear the fulfillment of this pre requisite. During the Summer, when enrollment for Fall courses takes place, there are very few counselors available.
Econ Department and counselors had a thorough discussion about this situation to come up with better solutions. The Passport system does not recognized higher levels of math courses as sufficient to clear the pre requisite, thus becoming another hindrance to enrollment. We are continuing to have an open discussion to come up with better solutions, better yet, to make sure that we make clear that that is a direct connection between student enrollment, student success and student services. The difference in Enrollment in Economics courses from Spring to Fall is a clear indicator of this strong relationship.
Graphs 1, 2 and Table 1 provide more detailed information, about enrollment and sections.
Graph 1 Graph 2
Table 1
TERM / SECT / CENSUS / FTES TOTL / FTEF TOTL /PROD
Fall-12 / 8 / 306 / 30.6 / 1.6 / 19.13
Fall-11 / 7 / 279 / 27.9 / 1.4 / 19.93
Fall-10 / 9 / 319 / 31.9 / 1.8 / 17.72
Fall-09 / 14 / 547 / 53.44 / 2.8 / 19.09
Fall-08 / 13 / 417 / 40.55 / 2.58 / 15.70
Fall-07 / 12 / 381 / 39.27 / 2.09 / 18.82
Fall-06 / 9 / 306 / 31.19 / 1.78 / 17.51
Fall-05 / 9 / 302 / 30.81 / 1.79 / 17.17
While these cuts have denied open access to education to students, it is important to indicate the improvement in productivity and also in relationship with student services. It is the mission of this college to be a learning college, and it is really good to see how these budget cuts have brought us close together, academic and student services.
In addition, another positive thing to report is that these cuts did not diminish the quality of education. Economics department is leading the District in both student enrollment and student success. There is an average rate of 75 % success rate for Econ courses for the last three years. This average is the same with the previous period. So, serving more students with less resources has not impacted the quality of learning. In addition, the assessment results have shown improvements.
However, the assessment results indicated that students needed more assistance with the problem solving skills. This is why we decided that the best use of the limited resources is to add more hours for student tutors. We are monitoring the results of this change, to see if it will improve the student success. Students already are reporting a satisfaction with the tutors and their services.
The priorities for the future are:
o Maintain 20 hours of tutoring services
o maintain a close relationship with the counseling department to monitor student enrollment given the challenges presented by the pre requisite
o Increase professional development activities especially for new faculty teaching econ and their needs with the technology
o Continue to use Data Driven Decision Making to establish schedules and services
We are confident that Economic Department will continue to thrive as a department that focuses on student success and student learning. These challenging economic times can bring all of us together, faculty, students, tutors, student services and administrators, to make sure that we keep the promise of open access and quality education at COA.