Community College Board OKs $3 Fee Per Course : Education: Budget cuts force school to assess first charges in institution’s history. Trustees must trim $1.5 million from original fiscal plan.

Bracing for a reduction in state funding, the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees approved a new $3-a-class student fee Monday and prepared to make $1.5 million in cuts in its 1992-93 budget.

The class fee will generate $265,000 and lessen the need for additional reductions in the instructional program, Supt. John Davitt said.

Under the measure, a student enrolled in five three-unit classes will pay $15 a semester. Funds from the fee will help pay for classroom equipment and instructional materials.

Instruction is the area most affected by cuts recommended in the college’s preliminary $34.2 million budget, submitted by Davitt on Monday. It pares 4% from class offerings and 20% from this summer’s schedule, for a savings of $500,000.

“That’s about 50 classes a semester, all of them across the board,” said Arthur Rasmuson, vice president of instruction. “What this does is prolong the education of a student. If the students can’t get the math or ESL (English as a second language) class they want, that would mean they would have to wait another semester to enroll.”

Rasmuson said he also slashed $300,000 by reducing the cosmetology program and adult off-campus non-credit classes, by cutting back on sabbaticals and by not rehiring three instructional aides.

Administrative services, the president’s office and college services have cut about $250,000 each from their budgets.

Counseling, which accounts for more than half of the college services budget, would be cut $135,000 by a reduction in counseling hours. Library hours would be reduced, and the library would order 180 fewer titles this year than last. The classified staff would also shrink and a high-tech center for the disabled will close at noon on Fridays instead of 4:30 p.m.

The student fee, the first assessed by the college, provoked some opposition at Monday’s meeting.

“I rise in support of this measure, for in my heart of hearts I believe that their puny $3 will in no way affect my overall poverty level,” said student Daniel Schneider, sarcastically. “I shall reap the dividends of my education a hundred-fold, be it a $3 or $33 increase.”

College comptroller Sam Black said the district is still awaiting word from Sacramento on how much of an adjustment it will receive for cost-of-living increases, estimated at $1.9 million. Some or all of the adjustment may be withheld, he said.

If the college receives sufficient revenue from the state, the fee policy will be reviewed and reconsidered by the board, Davitt said. In contrast, if state funding continues to drop, school officials could be forced to eliminate more classes and go beyond the $1.5 million worth of reductions in next year’s budget.

“The budget assumptions seem a bit rosy,” said college guild President Lynn McMurrey. “I think we’re going to start bleeding a little bit.”