Community colleges downsize programs

• Texarkana College Texas is one of the last schools to drop intercollegiate sport.• A group of older works to keep alive some version of the continuing education division of Santa Barbara City College, which offers free lessons in subjects such as financial planning and confectioneries offers.• Starting this summer, Pima Community College in Tucson does not offer remediation for incoming adult students who are not a seventh grade level test in reading, writing and mathematics.COLUMN: Community College key to a better futureSTORY: Contraception key to increase grad ratesSTORY: Community Colleges welcome Obama's challengeTwo year schools were founded to meet the needs of their local communities to serve, "can not do anything anymore", says Suzanne Miles, Pima's interim president. They assessed the school's decision not more than 2,000 students have an impact this fall.Public funding cuts are a culprit. Thus, public funding for California community colleges was cut $ 809 million, or 12% since 2007-08. Another driver: a growing emphasis on improving the degree-completion rates and retraining redundant workers. President Obama has made, both central to his agenda for higher education."The challenge of this decade for the community colleges is to make hard choices about who they will serve, and in what ways," says Kay McClenney, director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement, a research and service initiative at the University of Texas.In many cases, schools find ways to fill the gap. Texarkana College President James Henry Russell is hoping a donor will step on the school softball, baseball and golf teams to finance. About 70 student-athletes were affected, that the school about $ 500,000 per year to store.If state funding dwindles for the personal enrichment, a Santa Barbara College Task Force hopes to create a self-supporting center. But seniors on fixed incomes may be unable to pay, says Cathie McCammon, co-chair of the Santa Barbara Association of Continuing Education students."The whole philosophy that people should learn during their whole life is kind of thrown out," she says.