Cabrillo College dental hygiene students, staff to speak at board meeting

Students and staff will voice their opinion about the future of a highly accredited dental hygiene program on the Central Coast.

The meeting on Monday comes after Cabrillo College decided to put a cap on how many students it will admit starting next fall.

The Cabrillo College Board of Trustees meet at 6 p.m. at the Sesnon House on campus. Many people from the community are expected to attend to voice their comments and concerns about how the realignment will affect the program as a whole.

The college said overall enrollment has been declining, so money isn’t coming in like it used to.

Starting Fall of 2015, students will be admitted into the dental hygiene program every two years, as opposed to the current every year admission policy.

The college says it simply had no choice since the program is one of the most expensive to run. But students and staff said the wait list will be even longer to get in and students won’t have the same learning experience. They also said the budget cuts will impact the 3,000 patient services the clinic provides every year.

“We’re providing this wonderful service at a low cost to all of the community. Where are they going to go? How are they going to get the oral healthcare that they need, because they’re being cut?” said Audra Acquistapace, a student.

Ten faculty and staff members will also lose their jobs as a result of the cuts.

The next admission year is 2016.

The college said for the year 2016, it’s looking into private funding as an option. College officials said dentists plan to go to the state legislature to see about increasing the per-student funding and to see about getting more funding for more expensive programs, like the dental hygiene program.

The Cabrillo College Board of Trustees will not take any action at Monday’s meeting.

The decision to cap admissions is a done deal, but the board will take all comments into consideration and see if there are other ways to keep the program running.