SACRAMENTO, California—Above is a contingent of students from the Chinatown branch of the City College of San Francisco at the March 16 demonstration here against cuts in funding for education. The students were among thousands from community colleges and other state schools throughout California who converged on the capitol building in Sacramento.

The new budget plan, passed on February 20 in the state legislature, includes cuts of at least 10,000 in the number of students who can attend state universities, with the possibility of thousands more.

The cost-of-living adjustments for community college faculty have been cut. Layoffs of teachers, cuts in the number of classes, and fee hikes are threatened.

Sara Kiono, a student at Chabot College in Hayward, described the hardship a rise in fees would pose. “I paid $300 in fees this semester,” she says. “In addition, I work two jobs to support myself. A fee increase would seriously jeopardize my efforts to become a special education teacher.”

—BETSEY STONE