Enrollment Services, which serves as the umbrella to all of the smaller Support Services in the University of Massachusetts, is facing widespread budget cuts that are directly effecting service programs for minorities as well as larger Student Affairs programs.
Enrollment Services has lost one million dollars in the last three years, and will likely lose more as budget cuts increase.
“For Enrollment Services, it is not the first year of budget cuts, this is the fourth year we’ve been dealing with them. We got two budget cuts, one in July 2001, and one in the middle of this year,” Dean of Enrollment Services Joe Marshall said. “We have an ongoing need to change things because of decreasing resources. Over the last four years Enrollment Services has been able to maintain resources to students by doing things differently.”
Doing things differently includes trying to maintain the high level of services but with minimal administrative advising. Many directors of smaller programs have been forced to leave, and staffs have been cut up to 50 percent in some cases.
The Bilingual Collegiate Program, (BCP) provides bilingual students at UMass with a variety of supportive services. It reaches out to bilingual youth in local schools and communities and helps students to successfully apply to UMass. This program also has tutoring, mentoring and helps with financial aid and housing, Director Manuela Littlesield explained. However, the BCP is also a victim of budget crunches.
“At least five years ago we had completed budgets but this year cuts the budget 41 percent and want to cut 10 percent more,” Littlesield said. “All the directors from the BCP are leaving.”
“The United Asian Learning Center (UALRC) is similar to the Bilingual Collegiate Program (BCP), the only difference is that it serves the Asian American students and advisors are Asian,” Director Lucy Nguyen said. “Because of budget cuts it’s hard to give to students. There is less money but we don’t reduce service and we put students’ service first.”
Native American Student Support, (NASS) is an academic support program similar to BCP, ULRC, and the Committee for the Collegiate Education of Black and other Minority Students (CCEBMS). NASS serves primarily Native American students that descend from Alaska, The Caribbean, South America and indigents from the North American continent. It is also suffering from budget cuts. According to Director Aquila McCants the cuts have severely inhibited its ability to recruit Native American students to UMass.
“This support program’s services are different. For example, almost every state has a commission, NASS works with the state,” McCants said. “It is not easy to recruit native students, but it is not a lack of interest – they are the poorest in the country.”
CCEBMS is also feeling the strain, Director Floyd Martin said.
“The times are facing racism, some intervening,” Martin explained. “The effect of budget cuts is 50 percent, and we’re expecting to lose more at the end of the year. [We’re expected to lose] 50 percent of staff members primarily to retirement.”
The Enrollment Services budget cuts do not just affect the lesser-known programs as NASS or BCP. Students Affairs, which also resides under the Enrollment Services’ umbrella, is also feeling the effects of an ever-decreasing budget.
Student Affairs supports the commissions on campus. Familiar programs such as Housing Services, Mental Health Services, The Stonewall Center and Public Safety are all categorized as Student Services. They can now also be categorized as under-funded.
“It is a learning support program outside the classroom experiences,” Vice Chancellor Javier Cevallos said. “The Student Affairs’ cut is 10 percent this year.”
