Carroll is president of San Diego Mesa College.

California's 108 community colleges provide an open door for students to enter in their search for opportunity. Each year, community colleges successfully prepare over 1.6 million students either for transfer to the state's universities or for employment. Community college students become teachers, information specialists, nurses, firefighters, radiographers, architects, professional athletes and police officers.

California's economy is directly affected by this unique network of two-year institutions whose open-access policies allow for students of all ages, backgrounds, disadvantages and needs to have a chance to develop the skills and abilities necessary to succeed. The community college open door is a key feature of the Master Plan for Education.

The present budget crisis threatens to close that open door to almost 100,000 students statewide.

Although all sectors should share the impact of the state's financial problem, budget reductions have had a disproportionate impact on California's community colleges, and the impact may become worse, depending upon the decisions legislators make regarding the 2003-04 fiscal plan for the state. Community colleges are at a point at which the public's access to classes and services is on the chopping block.

When the community colleges were suddenly reduced by $161 million this past February, the mid-year budget cuts hit a segment of education that was already underfunded. According to the California Postsecondary Education Commission in 2000, while state support for each full-time-equivalent student averaged $16,470 for the University of California and $10,818 for the California State University, the California Community Colleges received $4,557. Moreover, in San Diego County, most of the community college districts receive $1,000 less than the state average, due to a historically inequitable funding formula. The fact that the percentage cut for community colleges in the present budget plan is much higher than for the UC and CSU segments does not take into account the damage already done by underfunding.

At my community college, Mesa College, the mid-year cuts meant the immediate cancellation of 108 classes in the spring semester, despite a 6 percent increase in enrollment. Unfortunately, the best-case scenario for the coming year has caused Mesa to eliminate another 300 classes from the schedule for summer, fall and spring, with a potential loss of almost 3,000 students. These reductions are in addition to the elimination of many part-time positions, a yearlong hiring freeze and other cutbacks. Mesa College is typical of the situation at most community colleges in the state, which have cut back so far that classes, services and access are now directly affected.

On one of my walks around campus at the beginning of the spring semester, I saw a group of over 50 students standing outside a classroom, hoping to crash a math class. The classroom itself was so full that students were even sitting on the floor in one of the aisles. It was clear that there was no room for the 50 students outside.

These students could not understand why the college could not open another class section when there was such a clear demonstration of student demand. That is how a good business would operate, one student pointed out. I couldn't have agreed with him more, but I had to explain to him the depressing realities of an organization that operates in accordance with the revenue it receives from a state whose investment is below the level of actual demand and need.

As a revenue-enhancement measure, the governor has proposed an increase in the student enrollment fee for community college students. Presently set at $11 per unit, the fee would jump to $18 per unit for the 2003-04 academic year. The proposed fee increase, while yielding revenue, also would affect the ability of many students to attend a community college.

Moreover, the revenue from the fee is not retained by local community colleges, but reverts to the state general fund. Thus, a student at one of San Diego's community colleges will be required to pay a higher rate for education and services at an institution that receives a lower rate of compensation from the state for that same education and services.

As the Legislature and governor approach the endgame of their planning for the next state budget, they should keep an eye on policy questions in addition to the dollars and cents issues around which the budget turns. The California Community Colleges system has offered a "fair share" budget proposal that would reduce the community college budget by $215 million in the coming year. This proposal would fully fund enrollment without causing a further enrollment reduction within the system. From the vantage point of all of us who serve students, their access to education should be the highest priority.

As a long-term goal, California needs to do what the student outside the crowded math classroom advised: develop a plan that would have at its heart a commitment to meet the public's need and demand for a higher education and vocational training by providing the funds necessary to do so.