Amid budget deficit, Stan State students, faculty find ways to support one another

Amid Stanislaus State University’s $13.65 million deficit, students, faculty and staff face new challenges as they navigate research, basic needs and mentorship while finding ways to support one another.

Universities across the nation are experiencing funding cuts, posing challenges to research and student retention. The state of higher education this year has prompted some faculty to be creative in how they mentor student researchers, according to Stan State geography professor Jose Diaz-Garayua.

“The only way that we can move forward is to be creative and flexible while working on a common goal,” Diaz-Garayua said.

He described creating a “Plan A, B, and C” to address the unpredictable nature of funding. For some research projects, these plans may look like extending grants or the timeline of the project. Currently, Diaz-Garayua is mentoring five students in a collaboration with a fellowship at University of California, Merced.

Beyond the fellowship with UC Merced, mentorship also has aided students in finding off-campus funding for projects.

For Stan State graduate student Jennifer Frisk, university research opportunities were a dream when she was an undergrad. Frisk’s academic interests lie at the intersection of the psychology of education and childhood educational systems.Yet as a low-income student parent, doing research without pay wasn’t an option.

“In undergrad, being exposed to research was so cool, but it was so hard to do because I had to have two jobs,” Frisk said. “I’m open about the fact that I’m a low-income student. I’m a student parent. I have three kids. School and research never get to be the number one priority for someone like me, and that’s hard, because I love it and I want that to be my priority, and it just can’t be.”

This past summer, through working with Diaz-Garayua, she was awarded a research grant.

Yet due to budget cuts and short staffing, even after being awarded grants, many researchers aren’t able to pay research assistants.

Diaz-Garayua wants to continue providing research and mentorship opportunities for students, hoping to create a pipeline for them to attend conferences, apply to research institutions and publish their work.

“We (CSU) are a real option, especially for students that are coming from working families,” Diaz-Garayua said. “Having students here means that they can focus on what they have to do, not switching on and off and going to flip burgers or selling cookies. My goal is, “What can I do to bring at least two students that I can pay at least $20 per hour?”

For California State University students, tuition is not the largest cost of attending college, but rather food and housing. During her undergraduate years, Frisk recalls working on campus at Stan State and commuting to Modesto for her second job, leaving little time for academic pursuits.

Some instructors also are advocating for higher education through union work, including accounting professor Steven Filling, who serves as the faculty rights chair at the Stanislaus Chapter of the California Faculty Association. CFA is the union representing lecturers, professors, counselors, librarians and coaches from the 23 campuses of the CSU and acts as the exclusive collective bargaining agent for all faculty.

Filling said he believes this moment calls for solidarity among faculty, student and staff, many facing similar struggles. California Faculty Association’s Campus Cares Fund has provided over $100,000 to students for emergency housing, food and other basic needs costs.

“They’re making very, very real investments in their future,” Filling said. “These are people that literally are giving up a lot to come to college, and when we start running down what we do for them, I think we really damage our ability to provide the education that has prospered for California and elsewhere.”

When it comes to the budget and other higher education decisions on the federal, state and CSU level, Filling advocates for decisions to not be informed by quantitative metrics, but rather, lived experiences of community members.

For example, while institutions often measure success by whether students are employed within a year of graduation, Filling advocates for understanding the holistic student experience in and outside the university.

“They (CSU administration) tend to make decisions based on percentages, whereas I see students one to one and I see my colleagues one to one. They’re individuals,” Filling said. “It’s David and Juan and Laurissa, it’s not some number.”

While higher education has been unpredictable for many this past year, Frisk said she is grateful for the amount of faculty mentorship she has received at Stan State—something she believes is unique to the CSU and reflective of the mission of higher education.

“They (faculty) chose to be at the CSU system, and they did that because they love students, they want to prioritize student outcomes,” Frisk said. “They want to teach. They have a passion for what they do. And so I don’t think it’s just luck. I think that is actually a feature of the system that attracts faculty members who are here to mentor and to teach.”