MARK BRODIE: The Maricopa Community Colleges will be getting a new leader. The district's governing board last week approved Steven Bloomberg as the new chancellor. He's been serving as chancellor of the Kern Community College District in California.
The Maricopa Community College District's current chancellor, Steven Gonzales, announced earlier this year that he'd be stepping down. He's been in the role for six years — and by way of full disclosure, KJZZ is licensed to the Maricopa Community College District.
Gonzales stopped by the studio late last week, and we started our conversation with a recent request he made to the state Legislature to allocate funding to the district in the new state budget. Lawmakers and the governor zeroed out funding more than a decade ago, and I asked Gonzales what the impact of that has been.
STEVEN GONZALES: Right, so we have, every year since the state has decided not to fund us — in fact, this is going back since 2015, we were removed as a line item from the budget. Within a year or two after that, we were put back into the budget, but we have never received a dollar in the operating line since then. So, it's had tremendous impact, probably the accumulation of $250 to $350 million over that 11-year period.
MARK BRODIE: And what has the district, I guess, maybe missed out on because of that? Or what have the implications of that been?
STEVEN GONZALES: Well, it's it's forced us to really tighten the belt, which, you know, an organization, especially a public organization, should do. It should be very fiscally conservative and a good steward of taxpayer dollars. I believe we've done that.
Over the last several years, we've engaged in, you know, a different budgeting approach. Each of the colleges and the district office have undergone a minimum of 1% to 3% budget cuts each year to adjust for the impact. At the same time, we've had rising costs to just simply conduct business, so we're having to make those adjustments.
Our employees depend on annual increases. There's medical costs have gone up and we're self-insured organization and the costs of doing that business has gone up. So, when we don't have that consistent operating aid that doesn't come with any strings attached and how we use that to run our organization, we've had to make some pretty tough decisions.
Sometimes that might impact the night the number of people that we can employ, particularly those that serve our students on the front end. We'd like to reduce our student-advisor ratio, for example, but it might make it challenging to do that across our large system.
MARK BRODIE: Have you made this request in the past?
STEVEN GONZALES: We have made this request every single year.
MARK BRODIE: Do you have any measure of optimism that the result this year will be any different?
STEVEN GONZALES: We try to remain optimistic every single year. This year is especially tough, you know, understanding the budget challenges that the state is facing. There have been really good years that the state has had in terms of revenues coming in to dole out across the many areas that the that the state funds, and we thought for sure in those years we might, but you know, to no avail.
MARK BRODIE: So, let me ask you about another source of of revenue for the district, which is enrollment, of course. And I'm curious where that is. I mean, we've seen reports that, you know, in some places community college enrollment is up, in some places it's down. How are you doing?
STEVEN GONZALES: Well, during the the the pandemic, which started in spring of 2020 for us, beginning that fall 2020, we had a 20% decline in enrollment, which would be equivalent to one of our mid-size to large colleges just wiped out in one semester.
Over the last several years, we've engaged in a number of efforts to increase enrollment. As you mentioned, we've got two primary sources of revenue. One being tuition, the other one being property tax. And we have now had 12 consecutive semesters of enrollment increases, single to double-digit, low double-digit increases, which have helped. Some of our colleges have now met or surpassed pre-pandemic numbers. And on the whole, we've probably still got a little ways to go for the numbers that we were seeing prior to the fall of 2020.
MARK BRODIE: To what do you attribute enrollment being where it is? As you say, at some of the colleges, there are 10 colleges in the district, at some of them, enrollment is sort of where it was before COVID, at others, it's not.
STEVEN GONZALES: Well, we provide a number of programs. We offer between 600 and 700 degrees and certificates. We've got something for everybody, and we've got the the traditional what might take most students two years if they were going full-time and then we've got short-term certificates. In a little as two weeks, you can earn a certification that can land you a job opportunity that could turn into a career.
We have also started offering bachelor's degrees in the fall of 2023. We opened up with seven bachelor's degrees, and by the end of the fall semester, we had nearly 2,000 students who had indicated that they were in one of the bachelor's degrees. And today, I'm happy to report with 11 bachelor's degrees now, we have ... roughly 10,000 students. So, that has really helped our enrollment across our system.
MARK BRODIE: I wanted to ask you about the bachelor's degrees. Going back to the Legislature, that was something they allowed you to do. There are some rules around like what you are and are not allowed to do in terms of programs offered for bachelor's. It sounds like that's been a pretty significant development for the district.
STEVEN GONZALES: Right, so we're we're eternally grateful to the Legislature that year that supported our ability and for the governor that year who supported our ability to offer bachelor's degrees. It has been a tremendous opportunity for a number of reasons.
But, I would like to think that we've created bachelor's degrees that have an interest and that are going to meet the needs of the job market, and they're also accessible, and then there's the affordability. We have kept our associate's degree level courses at the $92 to $94 credit range. We're allowed to charge 150% for the upper division courses, but still when all said and done, a student can complete a bachelor's degree with us for under $15,000 in most instances.
MARK BRODIE: Do you anticipate that the colleges will continue to look to offer more bachelor's degrees and more programs?
STEVEN GONZALES: Absolutely. This, earlier in the spring semester, a task force that's been charged with looking at the landscape of the bachelor's degrees that we offer and ones that we will continue to possibly offer, they rolled out a five-year plan to add 15 more.
We're not in any sort of arms race. We're not looking to become of course a research-one institution. We are looking to meet the needs of our community and our industry partners in the number of bachelor's degrees we offer. They're labor-intensive, and they're of course they they cost to produce. And so we're very mindful of what we're going to do, and we want to ensure more than anything that students who come out with that bachelor's degree, that there will be an opportunity for them to be gainfully employed.
MARK BRODIE: When you look at the state of the district's finances as you're heading out the door, how would you describe them?
STEVEN GONZALES: I think that we are better off today. For one, we've got a a balanced budget. That's critically important for an institution to operate within its means. But, the demand is not going away and technology is changing incredibly fast, and we're trying to ensure that our students are meeting the needs of our communities and our industry partners, ensuring that their education is relevant, which requires that our equipment and learning spaces are relevant as well.
All of these things have a high — very, very high price tag, and what we have seen over the last several months in terms of the economy and the the cost of conducting business is only increasing.
MARK BRODIE: You're dealing with the same inflation that everybody else is.
STEVEN GONZALES: Absolutely. Yes, we have a fleet of cars and we pay the same amount for gas that you and I both pay when we fill up our personal vehicles.
MARK BRODIE: So, I assume that you will or have spoken to the person who will be replacing you. Not asking you to get into into specifics of private conversations, but what advice would you give him taking over your job?
STEVEN GONZALES: Well, the person who is named to to come in after me was was just approved yesterday, and he and I have not had an opportunity to talk. I will give advice as long as it's solicited. ... I want to make sure that he's going to have an opportunity to come in and be very successful. I have a vested interest in Maricopa continuing to be a successful institution.
I'd asked the board on my way out that they find someone who can take this to an entirely different level. It seems that on paper, they have found someone to do that, and I'm going to be his biggest fan.
MARK BRODIE: What does taking it to a different level look like to you?
STEVEN GONZALES: You know, growing the necessary programs; getting some successful wins down at the state Legislature; seeing the return of operating aid; continuing to grow the number of employees in areas where we are meeting our student needs and our community needs and meeting students where where they are.
MARK BRODIE: OK, fair enough. That is Steven Gonzales, the outgoing chancellor of the Maricopa Community College District. Thanks so much. I appreciate it.
STEVEN GONZALES: Thank you. I appreciate this opportunity.
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