De Anza College is known for being one of the best transfer colleges in the area. Yet it faces more budget cuts which are taking toll on both it’s staff and its students.
In a school with roughly 25,000 students, many whom are looking to transfer, there are only 26 counselors on campus. Those numbers continue to decrease due to budget cuts to counseling.
“I have been at De Anza for 28 years,” said counselor Vicky Moreno. “This is probably the worst budget situation that I have witnessed, and for me it is very troubling both because of the amount of work we have to do, but also because of my colleagues and the stress that it makes us all go through.” New rules and regulations have been implemented and are being strictly enforced creating a satirical situation.
The Student Success Act requires new students to have a two-year educational plan. Financial Aid guidelines request a precise and accurate educational plan, and students planning on ransferring to the UC’s and CSU’s need the support of a counselor.
The lack of an appropriate ratio of counselors to students means more difficulty in accomodating student needs in a timely manner.
De Anza has a rule that states that 50% of the faculty has to be full-time.
Because De Anza is very close to not being in compliance with that rule, counselors, library services, and faculty that are not primarily instructors are being hit hardest by the budget cuts.
Students want to get through De Anza more efficiently and at a faster rate.
This requires more assistance from counselors in mapping out an educational plan.
The budget cut could severely impact the integrity of De Anza’s transfer rates.
Students who get frustrated with the availability of counselors may take it upon themselves to create their own educational plans and may pick classes they don’t need.
Due to the limited time counselors have to spend with each student, counselors are forced to screen students that come in.
The first priority would be to accommodate current De Anza students that have an application on file and are registered in classes.
Many of the processes that the counselors go through have to be recorded onto a computer, which is time consuming.
The counselors are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, because their numbers will be cut even if Prop 30 passes.
“The relationship between a counselor and a student at De Anza is crucial, and De Anza is  overwhelmed and understaffed,” said De Anza counselor, Rob Clem.
“This budget cut can severely impact the future transfer rates because counseling is a major aspect in transferring.
Prop 30 can alleviate some of the numbers that have to be cut but sadly, it is inevitable.”
Meanwhile, counselors are doing the best they can with the limited resources allowed, and are still trying to help as many students as possible.