The City College of San Francisco is perilously close to bankruptcy, in part because it employs nearly twice as many faculty as similar colleges and pays them better - yet educates no more students on average, says a new financial analysis of the state's largest public school, the San Francisco Chronicle reported today. The college got into trouble because, unlike other colleges, it failed to make the budget cuts necessary to keep up with reductions in state funding, never set aside money for its growing retirement obligations, and "has provided salary increases and generous benefits with no discernible means to pay for them," says the review by the state's Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team, authorized by state law to help public schools in financial trouble. If City College can't pay its bills, "it would likely ask the state for an emergency loan," said Erik Skinner, interim chancellor for the state's community college system. "But the state budget is already spread thinly, so there's no guarantee." The college has until March 15 to prove it has made the structural changes needed to retain its accreditation. If not, the commission could yank that authorization in June, and the college would have to close.
