Cal State University cuts add frustration, graduation time to some students’ plans

California’s population drop and the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the budgets and enrollments of all California State University campuses, the public university system that enrolls the most students in the U.S. But some students feel it more than others.

Cal State L.A. said last month it had to cut $32 million from its budget this year.

A university spokesperson said preliminary data shows the university is down 82 lecturers at the beginning of the current semester compared to last year, and has 14% fewer classes.

As budget cuts and enrollment drops affect Cal State L.A.’s class offerings, students will be forced to solve the challenges these reductions place on their efforts to earn degrees. All this as the university system's top administrators wrap up a decade-old effort to significantly increase graduation rates at the 23 campuses.

Fewer lecturers and fewer classes

Students at Cal State L.A. say the cut in lecturers has led to fewer classes.

“It's really frustrating,” said Jennifer Leiva, who is working on her masters’ degree in anthropology.

Leiva was set to take an independent studies class in the spring that would give her class credit to do the academic and research work for the culmination of her degree: her thesis.

She was told earlier this semester “that those [classes] will no longer be available because of the budget cuts,” Leiva said.

Budget problems also forced her department to cut foundational classes for undergraduate students.

“We've had to limit the number of electives that we're offering,” said Aaron Sonnenschein, chair of the university’s anthropology department.

“We specifically had to cut the kind of upper division classes that our students need to graduate,” he said. That’s adding a semester and sometimes a year, he said, to graduation plans for undergraduates.

Effects of cuts felt unevenly among students

LAist spoke to nearly a dozen undergraduate students at Cal State L.A. about any enrollment troubles for the current semester. Most of them, particularly freshmen, said they had no trouble getting classes. Two students, including a military veteran, said they had priority enrollment and got the classes they needed.

But some students said it was harder to enroll in classes for this semester compared to previous years.

“I'm preparing to graduate, working on the next pieces of [my] life,” said Ashley Ovalle, a fifth-year political science student.

She said that when she enrolled last semester, she noticed that classes she needed for her pre-law philosophy minor were not available.

“So I'm kind of freaking out at that point,” she said, adding that it was because she hadn’t decided whether she would continue to take classes in spring 2025. She found classes to enroll in after talking to an advisor.

“I guess I have to stay one more semester,” Ovalle said.

And that’s going to take extra time and money.

LAist could not confirm that the two classes Ovalle attempted to enroll in were canceled because of budget cuts.

“[I]n general, of course the budget cuts have led to some course cancellations in our department and in most or all departments in the College of Arts and Letters,” said Richard Dean, vice chair of Cal State L.A.’s Philosophy Department, via email.

He said canceled classes limit “the options that students have for satisfying some requirements, especially General Education requirements.”

CSUs have been working on student success for nearly a decade

Enrollment at Cal State L.A. and a handful of other CSU campuses is dropping, which leads to fewer students and tuition dollars — and that’s likely to make the impact of cuts coming next academic year worse.

“I’m also concerned that [students] will not have the opportunity to experience a rich intellectual environment and have their needs met,” said Jay Conway, a Cal State L.A. philosophy lecturer, via text. He’s down to teaching two classes from the usual four.

He said he’s worried about the quality of education that students who have yet to enroll will receive.

“Diminishing the range of classes, increasing an already non-sustainable workload for professors, and eliminating lecturers will make CSULA a university in name only,” he said.

For their part, administrators are worried about how the cuts will affect degree completion rates because the CSU system is wrapping up a decade-long program to raise degree completion rates by increasing support and retention of students.

In October, CSU’s chancellor and other system administrators said at a conference of their Graduation 2025 plan that they’re shifting their goals for student success to include getting a job. With one more year left in the program, the CSU system has significantly raised degree attainment, they said, and now the plan is to help people use that degree to find a job.