Students Helping Students

At a time when budget cuts are deep in the state of California and times are tough, young people are stepping forward to lend a hand. Students are helping each other when it seems no one else will.

California's estimated $15 billion budget crisis is hitting students especially hard at state-funded universities. Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed 2004-2005 budget cut $612 million from the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems. In tandem, he called for higher student fees and increased student-faculty ratios. Schwarzenegger also proposed raising tuition for in-state undergraduates at the UC and CSU systems by 10 percent in the 2004-2005 academic year on top of previous tuition hikes. The proposed cuts threaten to reduce enrollment by about 20,000 for the CSU system and 8,000 for the UC system. The cuts are an obvious detriment to the lives of college students, creating increasingly difficult financial and academic hurdles for completing a college degree from a state-funded university in California.

University level public education is not alone in its struggles. In K-12, technology and safe school programs are being cut. Supply money and school improvement money is being reduced. District level reductions in staff and staff hours have translated into individual schools being asked to do more. Avis Mengelberg, the principal at Evergreen Elementary School in Rohnert Park, explains the struggle stating, "Lower morale, stress and frustration over how to get the job done with less and less is a reality. Apprehension over providing all students with the education they deserve in the face of ongoing budget shortfalls takes its toll." Mengelberg is one of many educators and administrators who are struggling with the meager resources available for the education system in the state.

Even though Evergreen lost funding for its after school reading program two years ago, there is one after school program currently going strong at the school. Students from Sonoma State University (SSU) volunteer with a Join Us Making Progress (JUMP) program called Study Buddies, currently Evergreen's only after school program. During its first semester at the nearby elementary school in the fall of 2003, approximately 35 SSU students committed to volunteering at least one day per week, tutoring first through fifth graders after school. SSU students donated a total of 1,237 hours of their time during the course of the semester to Study Buddies and its efforts at Evergreen. Study Buddies is only one example of many other student volunteer programs across the state.

The effort of California's college students to make a difference is exceptional, but even more remarkable considering their own circumstances. SSU student and Study Buddies Coordinator Selena Wimmer remarks, "The only resource that the kids have are the student volunteers who are facing the same lack of resources, yet they're still giving." Many of the student volunteers also work while struggling to pay their rapidly increasing tuition and fees. It is clear that making a difference in the lives of younger students is a priority to the volunteers because somehow they are able to find time to dedicate to tutoring for free. The other Studies Buddies Coordinator, Lauren Castro, explains that students keep giving of their time and energy because the experience of helping a child to understand and succeed academically is very rewarding. Volunteers hope that their actions will serve as an example for the kids they tutor, and for other members of the community, that everyone can and should give back and help others. The question is whether or not the state of California will lift the burden from its young people and show students that they truly are a priority, or if those students most in need of support themselves will continue to be the ones providing support to others.