SMC cuts late-start summer classes

Chelsea BrandweinStaff WriterDue to a 10 percent decline in state support over the last three years, Santa Monica College (SMC) announced recently that  they will no longer offer their standard set of 22 to 44 late-start summer classes, which typically commence shortly after Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) schools lets out for the summer.In the past, approximately 200 high school students have utilized these classes, drawn to their convenient start date and the greater availability of classes.With the options for summer classes significantly reduced, and enrollment priority granted to SMC students, I-House counselor Yunuen Valencia believes that getting a spot in one of the regular-start summer courses will be almost impossible. All of SMC’s fall and spring classes have been filled and it seems that this trend will continue for the summer session, according to Valencia.“Almost every single class at SMC [will be] one hundred percent filled by SMC students,” Valencia said.Many Samo students say that they have relied on the summer classes in the past to free up their schedule.“I feel really disappointed that the classes got cut because I was planning on taking biology as a summer class to free up my schedule,” junior Natalie Shahrooz said. “I’ve taken summer classes in the past and they’ve really helped, and they look good on a college application.”Junior Julissa Vallejo was also planning on taking the late-start summer classes this year.“I am extremely shocked that SMC is cutting their late-start classes,” Vallejo said. “Now I have to resort to taking classes online.”However, online courses, while a convenient alternative, can range anywhere from $500 to $1,500 according to Samo college counselor Frank Gatell. Valencia also explains that she discourages her students from taking online courses.“[Counselors] are not encouraging online courses because some universities are not accepting them due to accreditation issues,” Valencia said.Samo students will also have the option to take Ed Ahead summer courses, which will be offered for the second summer at Samo by the Education (Ed) Foundation for $595 a class. Available courses include World History, U.S. History, Ceramics and Digital Design, all of which will be worth high school credit. Scholarships will be provided by the Ed Foundation for qualifying students.“Even though the Ed Ahead class is fairly expensive because they take into consideration the fact that you are a high school student and they pace you well compared to a college-level course,” sophomore Yekun Ding said of the Ed Ahead courses.The SMC program, Young Collegians, for low-income high school students has not been affected by this cut.Although there are other options for Samo students, Gatell wishes he had a solution to the problems the SMC cuts have created.“This is a problem that you wish you had a magic wand to make it just go away,” Gatell said.cbrandwein@thesamohi.com