JOURNALISM BUDGET REQUEST
Please excuse this extra document with the budget forms, but there was no possible way to put all of this on the excel worksheets.
The journalism program has two budgets in the GUOO1 fund. One is listed as 214CM4 (for the Renegade Rip student newspaper and online edition),and one is listed as 214CM2 (for the program itself). After 12 years at BC, I am going to make a suggestion on how to streamline the journalism budgets because often the two budgets get confused, have some overlapping items, and it’s far more complicated than it should be for a small program.
The budget form for 214CM4 that is attached, but I haven’t put anything on it. I’m suggesting that 214CM4 be eliminated, and all budget items transfer to 214CM2. The budget 214CM4 was created about seven years ago to mainly hold funds for printing of the student newspaper. Those funds, though, must be paid back as well as possible with advertising revenue raised by the journalism professor.
The journalism professor is suggesting to eliminate this method and place the funds in 214CM2. Note that 214CM2 has a printing & duplicating section that doesn’t have to paid back, but those funds have now been designated at zero and at best, only had enough money to print 1-2 newspapers each school year. With the program’s new CTE designation, it’s possible print money could be gained through that avenue. The upshot is that the journalism professor believes the program should not be committed to paying back funds provided for printing of the student newspaper and maintaining the online edition.
The journalism professor is aware that this is a fairly radical request and that 214CM4 will probably continue to exist. If so, then he suggests keeping requests in that budget the same as they are for 2016-17.
Here are the goals and expenditure justifications provided by the journalism professor for the Journalism Program budget form also attached. Requested totals are on the form itself, but the following is rather lengthy and seems to work better on an attached document:
Item: Printing and Duplicating
This was given priority No. 1 and covers the strategic goals of student learning, and student progression and completion. These funds would cover printing of the student newspaper and maintaining the online publication, both areas in which the BC journalism program has excelled with numerous general excellence and individual awards in the past 50 years (14 years for the online publication).
Students in the newspaper classes learn multiple media skills and often gain a sense of “ownership” in the publication that promotes pride, teamwork, critical thinking and the knowledge in how to accomplish producing a regular physical print product and website amid multiple deadlines. The newspaper has been in existed for nearly 90 years and is often the main source of information about BC for not just the campus community but the city of Bakersfield as well. Students completing these classes have found they are more organized and diligent with other classes, also, which leads to completion. The first semester of the student newspaper is a core class for the journalism AAT. The second semester class is an elective for the AAT.
Cost of printing an edition of The Rip (3,000 copies): 10 pages with 2 pages of color — $752
12 pages with 2 pages of color — $822
Request for newspaper printing: The Rip publishes 14 times per school year, so the maximum total cost would be approximately $12,000 per year. Most of the newspapers are 12 pages each, sometimes less, and occasionally more depending on the news of the publication cycle
Cost of the website host maintaining our site: $600 annually; and $800 to maintain an app that allows downloads of the website to phones and other functions that allow students to access the print publication and website easier.
Total request for printing of newspaper/website: $13,000.
Item: Student travel
This was given No. 2 priority and covers the strategic goals of student learning, and student progression and completion. BC’s journalism program has been attending, mainly, the Journalism Association of Community Colleges conferences for more than 50 years. Last spring, BC attended the national Associated Collegiate Press conference in Los Angeles. Students engaged in workshops, tours of media organizations, contests, and get to see publications from other community college and four-year colleges across the nation. Also, four-year college vendors are usually at the conferences providing information about their journalism programs. In the journalism professor’s 12 years at BC, hundreds of students have attended conferences and all have reported a positive experience. Attending conferences is not mandatory, and BC typically takes from eight to 15 students to a conference depending on funds available and students’ schedules. BC has only allocated $1,000 for student travel this year, and last year we were able to attend the ACP conference only because we received two $2,000 donations and used the GUI money allocated.
Cost of attending a conference: This can vary depending on registration fee, how many hotel rooms we need, and how many days the conference lasts (some are one day and some are four).
Here is an average cost for a student: Registration $125-$250 per person depending on the conference. Hotel rooms range from $120-$150 per night (we usually put 3-4 people in one room). Often, students are asked to pay for their own food.
If 10 students attend a four-day conference, registration can be approximately $2,000. Four hotel rooms for three nights can be approximately $1,500.
The BC journalism professor and students would like to attend JACC conferences again but did not last year because there wasn’t enough money, opting to take students to the national conference.
JACC has a one-day fall semester conference at an estimated cost of $1,200 for 10 students.
JACC has a four-day spring semester state conference at an estimated cost of $4,000 for 10 students
ACP has a midwinter conference in California every year at an estimated cost of $3,500
The overall request for 2017-18 on the Journalism Program budget form is $7,500.
Item: Other services (this might also fall under Institutional or non-Institutional
This item is priority No. 3. This would cover membership fees to organizations that hold conferences and contests, and contest fees.
This covers the strategic goal of student learning, and student progression and completion. Membership in these organizations is what allows us to attend conferences and contests. The value of conferences has been described in the item above, but contests have been a major part of the BC journalism program. Students can enter on-the-spot contests at conferences that simulate professional environments, and the program also enters contests based on work in the newspaper and online publication. These contests have been valuable in critique of student work and building confidence by engaging in a competition with other community colleges in journalism programs.
BC has been a member of JACC for more than 40 years, but last year, we had to drop membership with them because we simply couldn’t afford their yearly fee and attend their state conference, which is the costliest. It is a quality organization, the journalism professor has been on the board, and increasing this budget would enable students to benefit from this organization again.
Cost of memberships: Journalism Association of Community Colleges $500 per year
Associated Collegiate Press $130 per year
California Colleges Media Association $150 per year
California Newspapers Publishers Association: $100 per year
Cost of contests: Journalism Association of Community Colleges $250 per year
CNPA $10 per entry (last year we had 23 entries for a total of $230)
Other organizations are free with membership
Some organizations raise membership or contest fees year to year, so the 2017-18 request this year is for $1,500
Item: Employee travel
This is the least priority item. The journalism professor attends conferences with the students and does benefit from networking with other professors. Often, though, he moves the employee travel money into the student travel money so more students might attend, and pays for his registration himself. But in reality, the costs of the professor, who must pay registration fees also, to attend conferences is far more than the money currently allocated. The journalism professor has also opted not to attend some instructor-only workshops and conferences in order to save money in the budget.
The 2017-18 request for this item is $1,500 per year.