Stimulus dollars allow Cal State San Bernardino to restore class offerings that had b

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Stimulus dollars allow Cal State San Bernardino to restore class offerings that had been cut
By MARK MUCKENFUSS
The Press-Enterprise
It should be a little easier for Cal State San Bernardino students to get the classes they need this fall.
On Friday, California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed announced that $50.9 million in federal stimulus money would be released to the system's campuses.
Reed said the money, the remainder of a $76.5 million allocation last fall, had been kept in reserve until university officials saw Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal for 2010-11.
Cal State San Bernardino spokesman Joe Gutierrez said the campus expects to receive about $2 million.
"It looks like we're going to be using it to restore classes or sections that we had planned to cut," Gutierrez said. "We had planned to cut 400 sections (in the fall), and it looks like we'll be able to restore virtually all of them."
Part of the money will be used to reach the goals of the Cal State system's new graduation initiative, announced last month. The initiative focuses on increasing graduation rates by 8 percent in the next six years and helping under-represented students complete college. How much of the $2 million will be dedicated to that is uncertain, Gutierrez said.
He said it is too early to know if the increased funds would affect enrollment.
"There's still a lot of work to be done," he said, in terms of apportioning the money. "But it will be helping students get the classes they need."
Reach Mark Muckenfuss at 951-368-9595 or mmuckenfuss@PE.com
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