College students always face the issues of not being able get into impacted classes, settling with an uncomfortable learning environment and even the failure of programs.

If only Cerritos College had some money (Let’s say about 46 million dollars) saved up that could maybe be used to help the overall learning environment of the college.

Well, it does.

There is approximately $46 million in the reserve fund simply piling up that the Board of Trustees has not touched. That money comes from a combination of three separate accounts:

• Fund 41 – $15,477,141 [but only $11,330,986 can be used]
• CalPERS – $16,000,200
• Undesignated Reserves – $15,997,384

Why not take a chunk of that money saved up and put it to good use.

Obviously a slight chunk because we don’t want a Long Beach City College situation here.

During the recession of 2007 LBCC laid off professors and fell into debt because they spent uncontrollably.

Cerritos College found its head above water during that slippery slope thanks to reserve accounts that saves money to pay off debts the school has.

CalPERS was a program that helped pay the retirement fund for all of California’s public workers.

Those that receive that money have to pay the tab; Cerritos College pays its portion.

But there are still accounts with money that can be invested into projects that increase school productivity and efficiency.

Maybe, more full-time professors? How about decent campus lighting? Maybe some extra employment opportunities so that there aren’t only three admissions workers while hundreds of students wait in line.

It’s like when you were a kid and you wanted something from the store, but your mother said no on the reason that she didn’t have money for that.

That’s basically what this is, except countless students would actually benefit from this money and the $46 million has no real purpose except for being used in case of a ‘rainy day’

That better be one hell of a storm…

Having to wait in the admissions lines for what seems like forever only to be told to go to a different line is not efficient, but how fast can the line really move when there are only about three people helping dozens of students.

There have been complaints from students who have been dropped from their classes due to the misplacement of their applications.

This begs the question, is this a lack of organization or is the office understaffed or is it both? Is the filing system up to date? Can the college be spending more on fixing this issue?

All the money in reserves can easily be used to expand on the quality in which Cerritos College handles its students.

Although better lighting has been a topic of discussion at board of trustees, action to implement a blue light system has not happened fast enough.

The money can also be used to open opportunities for more full-time professors to be part of the campus.

The school can put the money to good use in countless ways, which can overall enrich the experience of Cerritos College for both students and faculty.

Astonishingly enough, these $46 million are being put to no use for now.

Having a stronger full-time-based faculty will increase the effectiveness of student learning.

An investment in a project that could help full-time faculty will definitely help students.

Full-time faculty won’t need to hop around from campus to campus to gather money to pay bills.

Instead the school could provide anything the teachers needed.

Maybe when the apocalypse is happening or when aliens invade, the school will finally find a reason to access the money and put it to good use.