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Palomar College, San Marcos, Calif. monday sept. 20, 2010 Vol. 64, No. 3
the-telescope.com
$14 million budget: College begins school year with high balance kelley foyt the telescope
GRAPHIC BY VICTORIA TRAN | THE TELESCOPE ILLUSTRATION BY JOSEPH BONNET | THE TELESCOPE
Palomar had an ending fund balance of $14 million last year, according to school president Robert Deegan. That means that the college started out this semester with $14 million more than anticipated. Deegan said that the balance is larger than usual. The surplus left some students wondering why Palomar didn’t use some of the money to add more classes to the fall semester schedule. Out of 10 students interviewed, 40 percent reported having difficulty adding classes to their schedule this semester. “I signed up for classes a day after the sign up date, and they were all full,” said student Heather Kirchhof, 19. She explained that she worked the day that she was supposed to sign up. Deegan said that administrators plan on adding new classes in the upcoming spring semester. He explained that new classes were not
Under the influence
Police arresting more drivers at sobriety checkpoints, student tells his story
Carlos Gonzalez | mct campus
Katie Swanson spoke about her friends who were killed in a car accident this year. The crash killed four young people in a car that smelled of alcohol and two people in a charred SUV.
dan mccarthy the telescope
added sooner because data was needed from this semester. The school is currently reevaluating the student need. Administrators will analyze the fill of the class versus the cap and figure out what classes are at the enrollment capacity, he said. “We’re just trying to do what we can with the money we have,” Deegan said. turn to CASH page
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melina fickas the telescope
During a 16-day countywide summer crackdown, police arrested 957 drivers for driving under the influence. The amount represents an increase from last year. In the past week, six drivers were arrested and 16 vehicles were impounded, both facts according to articles from the North County Times. Student Bill Scott says he has three DUIs. He got his first at 34 and is currently 53 years old. “It’s a frickin’ nightmare,” Scott said. “You can drink too much and black out and then wake up to the cops or in jail. It’s humiliating because you have to go to jail.” Scott said that he has spent a total of 23 months in state jails because of his DUIs. “They put you in there with rapists and murderers, and you have to go through hell,” Scott said.
Cal Grants go unpaid across state
First time offenders can expect to pay upwards of $7,000 in state and attorney fees, along with a steep insurance increase. For the first three years after a DUI, drivers are considered “high risk” and their insurance premiums quadruple. Scott said he has to take an 18-month course before he is able to drive again. However, he said that because of the $1,550 cost from fines, he is unable to. Scott is currently unemployed. For a first offense, drivers who get a DUI will have their license revoked for four months. If there is a second offense within ten years, the driver’s license will be revoked for a year, according to the DMV website. “It’s not worth it in the long run,” Scott said. “You can take a cab for the fraction of the price. I wouldn’t wish a DUI on my worst enemy.” turn to DUI page
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Palomar is among the numerous public colleges and universities in California waiting on delayed Cal Grant payments, a residual effect of the lack of a state budget. Students awarded grants are given a fee waiver, Mary San Agustin, Palomar’s financial aid director said in a North County Times article dated Sept. 11. Colleges are typically given funds to distribute to the awarded students, but many were not issued the money this year because without a set budget, schools have no standing to distribute funds they may or may not have. The administration is currently evaluating whether it can cover the $250,000 in delayed payments with funds on hand. Across the street at Cal State San Marcos, the situation is the same, but on a much larger scale. CSU San Marcos took direct action to aid students with delayed Cal Grants last week, allowing them to enroll and issued advance payments to cover textbook and living costs, in addition to pushing back tuition deadlines. “We don’t have a budget, and without a budget we don’t have any authority to disburse funds,” said Diana Fuentes Michel, executive director of the Student Aid Commission. “Our students did not see any disruption in funds in financial aid, despite the fact that the state has not issued payment yet for Cal Grants,” said Margaret Lutz, the university’s spokeswoman, in the same NCT article. Of the roughly 335,500 students awarded statewide Cal Grants, 1,870 of them are enrolled at CSU San Marcos, in sum eligible for $5.3 million out of $407 million. CSU San Marcos is not the only San Diego area school making adjustments to the budget crunch. San Diego State University will use federal funds to keep their doors open to transfer students for the Spring 2011 semester. In a released statement, the university said, “even though the state does not yet have a budget, federal stimulus money will be made available which will allow us to begin immediately admitting spring 2011 applicants.” SDSU will accept 1500 upper division transfer applicants. According to the release, they enrolled 1990 this fall.