CAMPUS & CAREER GUIDE : Q & A : Community Colleges Chief Faces Challenges : Leadership: David Mertes, chancellor of the 107-school system, says budget cuts have changed the way they respond to students’ needs.

For almost six years, David Mertes has been chancellor of the California Community Colleges system, helping to guide the sometimes fractious collection of 107 two-year colleges that are controlled by locally elected boards but depend on Sacramento for financing.

A respected career administrator with a Berkeley Ph.D. in zoology, Mertes, 63, headed the innovative Los Rios Community College District in Sacramento before taking the reins of the state system in July, 1988. Recently, he talked to Times education writer Jean Merl about challenges facing the colleges.

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Q: The community colleges have always prided themselves on being accessible to everyone. Have the continuing state budget problems changed that significantly?

A: State law requires that we accept every student 18 or older who can benefit from the instruction. When we do not have sufficient budgets, as has been the case in the past three years, we are not able to offer enough classes for students who have been admitted. Consequently, some of them do not find the classes they need, and they leave. We have been unable to fulfill one of our primary missions, which is to be a point of entry into higher education for all who can benefit.

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Q. Who stands to lose the most when classes are reduced?

A. The losers are the people who are the poorest members of our society, people who often do not have the flexibility to make adjustments. Take a middle-aged woman who is a single parent, is struggling with a minimally paying job. She has the problems of child care, transportation . . . yet she wants to become more productive, wants a better-paying job. If she can’t get into one of our classes, she probably has no alternatives. She just doesn’t have the range of options that some others might have.

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Q. Couldn’t colleges find ways to accommodate such students?

A. Most colleges already are trying to find ways to utilize the facilities better and meet students’ needs. Many colleges have as large a number of students attending in the evening as in the day. They operate from early morning until 10 or 11 at night. Many have programs on Saturdays. Colleges are much more focused on what their mission is. I see a lot of them imposing a much stronger sense of accountability on themselves. Many are working much more closely with business to be sure we are providing what is needed; all are trying ways to provide more instruction at less cost. We’re doing it, but we have to keep trying to find ways to do it even more effectively.

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Q. What are some of the other effects of the ongoing state budget troubles?

A. This academic year, our enrollments are down about 9%, due to a couple of factors. First, there has been a sharp increase in fees. A year ago this past September, the cost was $6 per unit. Now, it’s $13 a unit, and $50 a unit if you have a bachelor’s degree. Second, we’ve had budgets that have been essentially flat at a time when there have been increasing numbers of people wanting to get into the community colleges. Statewide, we have had to cut the curriculum by 10% over a three-year period. That represents 13,000 class sections. That’s a lot of lost instruction. Salaries also are flat. I would say the colleges have attempted to use their money for classes instead of raising salaries, buying supplies, maintaining buildings, and we’ll pay a price for that, too, down the line.

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Q. In this time of shrinking resources, should priority be given to some students over others?

A. Yes, and we have been doing that. The board of governors, on my recommendation, adopted a policy about a year and half ago that provides guidelines to colleges. Those guidelines give preference to students working toward a defined goal. They get first choice in signing up for classes; newcomers with a defined goal get next choice. There is a whole series of priorities, and the last goes to people with BA degrees who are coming for recreational or avocational interests. If a seat is available, they certainly are welcome, but they don’t get at the front of the line and take the seat away from somebody going through for the first time.

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Q. How do you determine if someone is a worthy student or is making adequate progress?

A. There is a formal process involving a series of assessments. It begins when a student first comes in; we determine what level of class he or she will be successful in. . . . Then a student’s progress is monitored, and counseling is available.

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Q. Proponents of raising fees, including the governor, have pointed out that the community colleges are still a tremendous bargain. Fees are still lower than at most of the other two-year colleges in the nation, and a great deal less than those at Cal State and UC.

A. Yes, it is a bargain. But look at this from a different point of view. Given the diversity of this state, the large numbers of immigrants, the large numbers of people needing to learn new job skills to prepare for a new economy, there has to be a system that people can turn to to become productive members of society. . . .

I agree with the governor that jobs are the key to California’s future. I would simply add that good jobs require well-prepared people. I see the lowest possible fees as an investment in California’s future.