Major funding cuts to Cabrillo College ahead of low attendance

APTOS, Calif. (KION-TV) --  Cutting classes at Cabrillo College.

Staff at Cabrillo telling KION Wednesday, they also have to reduce their budget by more than four million dollars because of low enrollment and state funding cuts.

Students and faculty grapple with the news of these budget cuts and the impact it can have on some of the programs here.

Cabrillo College is cutting 70 of its classes in either Math, English, Arts or Ethnic Studies.

A move the administrators say is driven by declining enrollment and unexpected state funding reductions. 

"I's hard not to have some of that impact show up across the entire college, whether that's counseling, appointments or courses that don't don't get offered that were offered in the past and they'll feel," Matt Wetstein Cabrillo President said.

Wetstein, says part of the reason for the low enrollment is because of the CZU fires and flooding in Pajaro that impacted so many communities in the county.

"People moved out, leading to low enrollment and now a tight budget, these cuts would look like, Wetstein said. "We offer seven sections of this semester, we're only going to do six in the fall of 2025, if you have a large set of English courses that are offered like the transfer college writing course, we'll offer like 30 classes or maybe we only do 28."

As the administration begins to assess which classes to cut, students are anxious.

"The sad thing is, is that people need these classes for their own specific reasons, whether that may be they want to take it for fun or they need it for their job in their job or like credits or whatnot," Ernesto Del Toro Diaz first year said.

Faculty are also exploring ways to manage staff reduction including early retirement incentives.

"We lost nine positions to retirement. and in the past, they would have replaced those units so they could have hired new people or given those jobs," Brad Kava Department Chair for Journalism Program said. "The people who are here, this is the first time that they're not filling the positions of people who've retired or left."

There's concern from some faculty members about the potential for cuts to the school's Journalism Program as well.