Las Positas College has shaved $2 million off its budget deficit projection thanks to strategic spending and new revenue streams.
Back in February, LPC projected it would end the 2024-25 fiscal year with a $5 million budget deficit, meaning the school’s expenses were $5 million more than its income. With the new adjustments in place, the current projection stands at $3 million over budget.
Instead of cuts to courses or programs, the school opted to double down on investing in students.
“I’m excited about the future for us,” LPC president Dyrell Foster said. “As we continue to grow, enrollment continues to grow, and students continue to be successful, which students have been, all of that translates into us having fiscal stability moving forward.”
California Community Colleges (CCC) operate under the Student-Centered Funding Formula (SCFF), which allocates funding based on three metrics of student performance: enrollment, financial aid recipients and student success via degree or certificate attainment. The more these numbers increase, the more funding LPC can receive.
Boosting enrollment remains the priority for the administration since it accounts for 70% of SCFF funding.
“We’ve been up 22% from fall 2022 to fall 2024,” said Sean Brooks, vice president of administrative services. “We expect to be up well over 10% for this year, too.”
Brooks said the winter intercession, a new term Las Positas is introducing between this fall and spring semesters, brings even more opportunity for growth. Increasing the offerings helps students achieve their educational goals faster while also increasing enrollment.
Another part of the game plan is increasing the number of Full-Time Equivalent Students (FTES), which, according to the CCC, are students enrolled in at least 15 units in a semester. FTES are in high demand.
Another reason to increase FTES is they contribute to the school getting off of hold-harmless status. This COVID-era protection allows community colleges to receive funding based on enrollment numbers from their 2017-18 academic year. The provision was designed to protect schools from losing funding due to pandemic-induced enrollment decline. Under the hold-harmless status, the school is unable to receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to keep up with rising costs driven by inflation. Essentially, the status is working against LPC as it is preventing access to essential revenue.
“The more FTES that we’re able to receive, the sooner we can get off hold-harmless and just begin to receive COLA.” According to Brooks, LPC missed out on $2.6 million of additional funding from COLA this year.
With enrollment steadily trending upwards since the low point of fall 2022, the ability to get off hold-harmless may be on the horizon. Foster said he hopes the winter intercession assists the school in getting off of hold-harmless this year by adding additional enrollment.
“We’re not seeing a reduction in the course offerings,” Foster said. “We’re increasing those. In fact, we’re fully committed to our student support programs.”
Instead of major cuts, it’s all about selectivity. “We’ve been pretty prudent in terms of bringing on additional staff,” Brooks said. “If classes aren’t full, we’re not going to add classes that aren’t going to be successful.”
But even with their discerning approach, Brooks said the school’s emphasis is on investing in the campus to maintain LPC’s high standing.
“Even during these, I would call fiscally challenging times,” Brooks said, “we continue to rank among the top community colleges in the nation and the state. So, our goal is still to continue to maintain and build on that excellence.”
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TOP PHOTO: LPC President Dyrell Foster said the school is addressing the budge by leaning into supporting student programs. (Photo by Ian Kapsalis/The Express)
Jaxyn Good is a staff writer for The Express.
