SRJC’s senior program took one of the hardest hits in the budget crisis, with the number of classes offered plummeting from a height of 350 in 2010 to just 15 programs in Fall 2011. The Older Adults Program was drastically cut because the campus is underfunded, and in a state Vice President Dr. Mary Kay Rudolph described as “bare bones.”
The decision to cut the Older Adult Program was not an easy one, Rudolph said. The cuts also represent the shifting state and SRJC priorities to focus on transfer students and degree completion.
Senior programs include physical education, music and art classes. Often referred to as the “fun” classes, these electives are free to seniors and have no tests or credits. The remaining senior programs are subsidized, government-provided activities for the older adults in the community.
In the spring of 2006, SRJC offered 338 senior classes, down from a high of 350. These classes were targeted to the 50 years and older crowd. Kelly Mayes oversees the Older Adults Programs as coordinator, though her position has shifted with the recent reformation.
“The senior programs are offered all over the place, in senior centers in Cloverdale, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park and Sebastopol,” Mayes said. In Sept. of 2009, SRJC cut the first half of the programs, leaving 161 classes remaining. “They cut, cut, cut,” Mayes said.
Betsy Roberts, a former supervisor of the Older Adults Program, now works as Director of Community Education. In her job she is still helping the community but now works with fee-based, non-credited classes such as one-day classes in the planetarium and travel education.
“I can’t say I like working with one [department] more than the other. Serving the older adults is very rewarding,” Roberts said.
The State of California’s Student Success task force recommends that community colleges align course offerings to focus on the needs of students to complete degrees, certificates and transfer. Therefore, one reason senior courses were cut was to make room for more offerings of transferable classes. SRJC offers fewer elective classes and more general education classes like English and math to help students transfer faster. Student Success is a changing process with “more shifting of the non-credit [elective] courses,” Roberts said.
“We have a huge older adult community, with active seniors and these are the Baby Boomers,” Mayes said. But those numbers are shrinking with the reduced program offerings. The California Community Colleges’ Chancellor’s Office statistics show that SRJC had 12,343 students age 50 or older in 2000, 10,325 in 2008-09 and only 7,057 in 2010-11.
At the May Board of Trustees meeting, seniors affected by the loss of classes voiced their disapproval and pleaded with the board to bring their programs back.
“This is the new chapter with an unknown future, Roberts said.