Daily Aztec story: Cuts snare transfer students

Media Credit: David J. Olender / Photo Editor

A message from San Diego State to prospective transfer students: Come back next fall.

The state of California has slashed the education budget by 10 percent, a move that has universities such as SDSU and CSU San Marcos closing the door on transfer students for the spring of 2009.

Community college students who were expecting to attend SDSU this spring are now just spinning their wheels.

Ethan Singer, the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at SDSU said the problem is the result of not enough money and too little room. Singer said the changes were announced last February to give community college students as much advanced warning as possible.

"It is a combination of having (to) cut back enrollment to the budgeted level," Singer said. "As we were overenrolled last year, and at the same time not receiving any enrollment growth funding for new enrollment. Our numbers had to be reduced significantly, and therefore to have the right sized classes in the fall, we could not also take new students in the spring."

Despite the spring moratorium, the yearly overall enrollment of transfer students to SDSU has risen, not fallen. According to Singer, the Fall 2003 semester admitted 32,872 students, a total that has increased to 36,225 in Fall 2006 and 36,625 in Fall 2007.

The budget cuts are part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's controversial plan to close the state's estimated $14.5 billion budget shortfall. As California's spending on state schools is slashed across the board, both state universities and community colleges are feeling the heat. Community colleges often decide to cut back on offered classes, meaning that it takes freshmen and sophomores longer to complete their transfer requirements.

At the same time, money for university classes also dwindles, which lowers the number of students accepted. The cutbacks are felt even more at community colleges because they receive less money from the state than universities do.

Samantha Austin, a 36-year-old nursing major at Southwestern College, has been on both ends of that problem. She was delayed in reaching her transfer requirements because of limited classes at SWC. This year, she met the requirements only to learn that SDSU would not be accepting spring admissions.

Austin is a single mother who depends on different grants for college such as Calworks, money that may now be in jeopardy because of the time-sensitive nature of the grants.

"It has just left me in a really bad a spot," Austin said. "I'm on a time slot with my grants and financial aid. I don't know what I am going to do honestly. If I don't get my grants, I'm not going to be able to pay my rent."

Options for students are sparse, but there are some, Mary Rider, the Transfer Coordinator at Grossmont College, said. The two options that students have are to take as many classes as possible at a community college and also, when applying, to have the right GPA for their major in order to meet SDSU's transfer admission criteria.

SDSU is simply too crowded and too popular, Norma Cazares, Director of Counseling at SWC said. For that reason, community college students wishing to pursue their bachelor's degrees while staying close to home are going to find stiff competition.

"The whole world wants to get into San Diego State," Cazares said. "That makes things much more competitive, which impacts majors, which increases the criteria in order to meet the requirements for those majors. It's the domino effect."

Despite all the requirements, new local transfer students still have an advantage when applying to SDSU. In the past, transfer students would sign a Transfer Admission Guarantee that would ensure a transfer student a spot at SDSU. While there are no more contracts to sign, local students are still evaluated as T.A.G. students, according to Cazares.

Students can also be better prepared by arming themselves with better information, Cazares added. She has organized CSU application workshops and has tried to let students know about other options, such as private universities.

"Students need to think outside of that box," Cazares said. "San Diego State knows that I say this. I tell my students, 'You need to think outside of San Diego State.'"

Daily Aztec Story: A 'Sign' exhibited

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Anderson

Though the stigma of the deaf community is one that is often unheard, art instructor Jennifer Anderson and students have created a sign that cannot be missed.

Anderson and five San Diego State students have created a piece of public art for the Port of San Diego. Their unofficial Art 103 project is as tall as a house and bound to draw some curiosity at first glance. What the students really want, however, is for people to take a second look and to see the message in the hands.

Their sculpture is called "It's a Sign." The public art project is a looming 17-foot-tall four-hand salute. The fingers, formed by rusted sheet metal, spell out the word "Tree" in sign language. The message may only elicit curious looks until one reads the plaque that accompanies the work:

"Whether we are deaf or hearing, language transforms experience and connects us with one another. 'It's A Sign' is a metaphor for underrepresented communities."

The students, Justean Giger, Bianca Saad, Gabriela Salas-Miranda, Sara Beam and Audrey Kenyon, said their dream location for their art is outside. The sculpture stands along the breezy Port of San Diego Embarcadero within walking distance from the Star of India and the San Diego Airport. Thousands of tourists and visitors who walk along the coast every year will see the Urban Trees 5 exhibit, a public art show of 31 sculpted trees that is updated yearly.

The open-air gallery is part of what makes "It's a Sign" special, Anderson said.

"You don't have to go to the gallery or pay to get into a museum," Anderson said. "Anyone who walks down the promenade can see it and enjoy it and interpret it."

Anderson, an adjunct art professor and furniture designer, told her students about the public works opportunity in her Art 103 class, which teaches three-dimensional design. "It's a Sign," was among 30 other projects chosen out of 122 applicants by the San Diego Port Authority.

The Port Authority gives the artists $2,500 stipends for the artwork but only after the artwork has been completed. Anderson said that she and the students had to come up with the money themselves. The students met twice a week after class to plan the project and continued to communicate through e-mail after the semester finished.
The work debuted on Saturday during a dedication ceremony that formally introduced the artwork to San Diego. Allan Tait, the Port Authority's public art project manager for the Urban Trees Project, said the SDSU students crafted something unique.

"It was like nothing we had ever seen before," Tait said. "Most of us can't read that. Those who are familiar with the language will recognize it immediately. It's absolutely original in the design."

The project came about as the result of a lot of hard work, Giger said. Because of money and time considerations, Anderson became directly involved in the project as the team was forced to scrap the original design.

"The tree was originally planned to be constructed out of cast bronze," Giger said. "We had to go back to the drawing board and re-design the whole project again. That was when Jennifer jumped in because we were under incredible deadlines in addition to our regular schoolwork."

Giger considers the work worthwhile. Five minutes after the sculpture went up, people were already taking pictures. Giger returned later that night to show her husband the artwork and heard people discussing "It's a Sign."

The students' message seems to be heard loud and clear.

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Writers Notes: I had the privilege to sit in on a "Print Day" at the Daily Aztec yesterday, very different from the "Print Nights" we would have at the SWC Sun. The DA is great place and I am fascinated by the stuff they do. The city Editor and I edited the front page together (well...I mostly watched.) and it surprised me that we had to fit the entire City section into one page with the headlines and teasers. I take my hat off to the resourceful page designers over there who create within close corners, they truly are wizards.