John Nixon, president and CEO of Mt. San
Antonio College in Walnut, chairs the San Gabriel/Foothill Association
of Community Colleges. Nixon makes some valid point in this guest column.

LIKE all families across California, the
family of community colleges in the San Gabriel Valley is tightening
its belt more than ever as it braces for severe economic challenges
stemming from the state’s budget crisis.

The family, known as the San Gabriel/Foothill Association
of Community Colleges (SanFACC), is a regional caucus composed of
Chaffey College, Citrus College, Glendale Community College, Mt. San
Antonio College, Pasadena City College and Rio Hondo College.

Nearly 250,000 students attend SanFACC colleges, but those
numbers are likely to drop with the projected budget cuts these six
colleges are facing. Collectively, they could lose 21,200 students as
well as an estimated net funding reduction of $55 million from the
state in 2009-10. It is not a stretch to say that this is the worst
economic crisis most of us in education have seen.

Read Nixon’s entire column in the Walnut Highlander.