CASFS Blog & Forum

THIS SITE IS NO LONGER UPDATED.

PLEASE VISIT GROWAFARMER.ORG TO STAY IN TOUCH WITH CASFS AND THE UCSC FARM & GARDEN!

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Big raise scheduled in UCSC's horticulture apprenticeship fee

The price for one of the flagship programs of UC Santa Cruz, the Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture, is set to rise precipitously over the next two years.

The fee for the acclaimed six-month UC extension course will increase from $5,350 this year to $8,500 in 2012, a 58 percent increase. In 2013 it will be $12,800, an almost three-fold increase of the $3,250 apprentices paid in 2006.

The decision was made in July in response to significant drops in funding for the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, the department that houses the apprenticeship.

The center has lost 52 percent of its state funding, $167,000, and a $335,000 annual U.S. Department of Agriculture grant. The total Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems budget for 2010-2011 was $1.3 million.

"We are really concerned about next year, and what deficit CASFS as a whole will run. We are very concerned about January uncertainty and if we'll have a mid-year [state funding] cut," said UCSC Social Sciences Dean Sheldon Kamieniecki, who oversees the center. "Considering the potential deficit CASFS could run in 2013, we had to raise apprenticeship tuition considerably in order to make CASFS whole."

A recent one-time grant of $100,000 will offset the 2012 increase and every apprentice next year will pay $6,000, Kamieniecki said, but that is not a long-term solution.

Apprenticeship staff, current students and former apprentices have all expressed dismay at the steep increase, and said they are worried about the higher fee limiting the diversity and accessibility of the program.

"There is no way I could have done it for $12,800. That shouldn't happen," said Nancy Vail, the co-owner of Pescadero's Pie Ranch and a former apprentice and staff member who called the program "a feather in the cap" of the university.

Wednesday, Kamieniecki is scheduled to meet with the current apprentices, who are asking for a more open budget process and that the tuition hikes be rolled back.

"One of our chief concerns is the stated mission of the program to keep it accessible," current apprentice Jeff Zerger, 40, said. "There is a strong correlation between cost and diversity. Who can take six months off and pay $12,800? That is out of touch with reality."

As a UC extension course the apprentices are not eligible for financial aid and are not earning credits toward a degree. Graduates receive a certificate in ecological horticulture upon completion of the apprenticeship, which is often called "unique" and "invaluable" by staff and participants for its combination of academics and hands-on training in sustainable agriculture.

Many of the apprentices are well over 20 years old and leave jobs to live on the UCSC farm from April to September. Graduates have gone on to start organic farms of their own, educational programs, prison garden projects and other nonprofit food and agriculture-related organizations.

One of the stated goals of the apprenticeship, according to the center's website, is to increase the "number and diversity" of people who have access to the training. This year 36 apprentices were chosen from a pool of approximately 150 applicants.

Apprenticeship staff say they prepared a program budget for the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems and Kamieniecki that set 2012 tuition at $6,000 and met previous criteria for a sustainable program. Kamieniecki said that in light of the overall perilous financial state of the center for 2013 and the ongoing subsidies for the apprenticeship program, tuition had to be raised.

The 36 apprentices live on the farm, and the apprenticeship is subsidized by the university through the free use of land and utilities, among other benefits of the campus infrastructure.

The apprenticeship was informally started in 1967 by the creator of the UCSC garden, Alan Chadwick. In 1980 UCSC started an agroecology program, and in 1997 the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems was formed. Since then, the apprenticeship's finances have become increasingly intertwined with those of the center, current and former staff members said.

Kamieniecki says the apprenticeship fee goes to the center's general fund, but added that the two are "integrated" because of the staff support and other benefits the apprenticeship gets from its umbrella department.

"I would hate to think the financial burden of keeping CASFS going is going to fall on the incoming class of apprentices who are just trying to further careers in food movement and want to be farmers and educators," said Kirstin Yogg, an apprenticeship graduate and the co-owner of Santa Cruz's Freewheelin' Farm.

UCSC estimates that the program's cost per apprentice is between $13,000 and $14,000.

"The tuition does not cover the full cost of the apprenticeship experience," said Christof Bernau, apprenticeship garden manager. "But this may be where there is a little philosophical difference. From my perspective it is untenable to burden young working adults not going into the most high-paying field with the whole cost of education. There is nowhere in the UC system where the full cost is covered by the student."

Tuition for UC undergraduates has nearly doubled since the 2006-2007 school year, from $6,121 to $12,192 for 2011-2012. However, the two groups do not make for a clean comparison. Undergraduates pay separately for housing, while accommodations are included in the apprenticeship fee. Apprentices pay an extra fee for books and tools, and contribute to the revenue for the program, harvesting flowers and vegetables and selling them at the UCSC farm stand.

Both Kamieniecki and Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems Director Patricia Allen have said they plan to aggressively seek more donations and scholarship money. Currently there is funding for four to five scholarships a year, Allen said.

"The Center has historically written grants for particular programs, but now scholarships and general support will be relied upon more heavily," Allen said, adding that the center had to eliminate five graduate student research positions for next year. "This is the shift we are undergoing, and we have to develop new relationships with donors."

Allen also said she is exploring shorter courses that could offer elements of the apprenticeship without the full financial and time commitment.

"Scholarships do not get to the core of the issue of program sustainability" current apprentice Aileen Suzara, 27, said. "Scholarships should be an offset, not a solution."

posted by CASFS 2006 @ 10:41 PM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home