{"id":666,"date":"2026-06-14T22:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T22:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=666"},"modified":"2026-06-14T22:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T22:32:11","slug":"nightmarish-enrollment-drop-off-forces-oakland-colleges-to-merge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=666","title":{"rendered":"‘Nightmarish’ enrollment drop-off forces Oakland colleges to merge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two East Bay community colleges will merge into one institution next year as officials look to reduce dropout rates and address declining enrollment.<\/p>

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The plan to unite\u00a0Laney College and Merritt College under a new name, Oakland City College, was approved on Tuesday during a meeting of the Peralta Community College Board of Trustees\u00a0in a 6-2 vote. Both campuses would remain open following the merger, which is expected\u00a0to take effect in fall 2027, according to the Peralta Community College District\u2019s FAQ page. (The district\u2019s other two campuses, College of Alameda and Berkeley City College, will continue to operate as separate institutions.)<\/p><\/div>

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According to the from the board, though\u00a0Laney and Merritt colleges were founded during a \u201cdifferent demographic and economic era,\u201d the district is now experiencing different problems, including a decline in enrollment. During the meeting, one of the trustees, Cindi Napoli-Abella Reiss, said the decline has been noticeable in the last 12 to 18 years.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

\u201cThe enrollment has decreased so much. It\u2019s hard to fathom,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

Louis Quindlen, the board president, said he believes the merger is a way to continue adapting to the changing higher education landscape.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

\u201cWe change to meet the needs of the students in the room. To me, this program is exactly the same way,\u201d he said. \u201c… We have to get in a position where we can start growing and get out of that nightmarish hell.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

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The yearslong problems\u00a0<\/h2><\/div>

The plan is part of the larger District Transformation Plan, first proposed by the district\u2019s chancellor, Tammeil Gilkerson, in August 2025, according to the district\u2019s website. The plan also calls for reassessing courses and programs, as well as providing an evening and weekend college, remote education, and dual enrollment with high schools.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

Tina Vasconcellos, the district\u2019s vice chancellor, told trustees on Tuesday that too many students are leaving without degrees and that consolidating the colleges could help simplify the duplicate programs. She showed the board a list of dozens of degree programs offered across the district\u2019s colleges, saying that about 90% of students enrolled in them do not complete the programs or transfer to another institution. Merging the two colleges would \u201cpull away from competition with each other and to redirect resources,\u201d\u00a0Vasconcellos said, adding that the district would be able to \u201cmarket and sort of package the programs in a way, schedule in a way, that students can achieve their goals.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

Another major factor behind the district\u2019s plan is its long-running budget challenges, which date back to at least 2013, according to its website. In a statement shared with SFGATE, Gilkerson also said the district has been facing budget shortfalls, declining enrollment and operational problems \u201cfor years.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

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\u201cWhat is different now is that we finally have the opportunity to look beyond the next budget reduction and ask a larger question about what we want\u00a0Peralta to become,\u201d Gilkerson said. \u201c… For me, the transformation effort is about creating the conditions to better serve students, strengthen pathways, and build a district that can plan, invest, innovate, and grow rather than continually reacting to the next challenge in front of us.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

During\u00a0Tuesday\u2019s meeting,\u00a0Gilkerson said the district has cut nearly $28 million in recent years.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

\u201cThose decisions have not been easy,\u201d she said. \u201c… We can\u2019t reduce our way forward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

\u2018Students have no idea what\u2019s going on\u2019<\/h2><\/div>

Although the district has said the merger will help mitigate the financial crisis, district officials have not provided detailed information about how it will do so. Trustee Nicky Gonz\u00e1lez Yuen mentioned the ambiguity surrounding the formal execution of the merger and noted that Nitasha Sawhney, a legal counsel at the meeting, had said the legal research was \u201cinconclusive.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

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That ambiguity has created fierce opposition from some students, faculty and community members, including during Tuesday\u2019s meeting.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

\u201cMerritt College students have no idea what\u2019s going on about this merge,\u201d Ronniedith Dimapasoc Ramos, a student at the college, said during the meeting.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

Opponents of the current proposal, including Ramos, said they are worried about how the merger could affect certain student resources. \u201cWe talk about this merging, but\u00a0Merritt College doesn\u2019t even have enough food on our campus. How is Merritt College going to welcome the Laney students and all the other students on our campus when our cafeteria closes at exactly 3 p.m.?\u201d she said. \u201c… So when we think about this merge, think about the basic needs of the students.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

Paulina Gonzalez-Brito, a vice president of the board and a trustee, said the district should weigh if it\u2019s moving \u201ctoo fast\u201d with the planning process and ensure that student programs aren\u2019t negatively affected.<\/p>

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\u201cI\u2019m not opposed to the merger at all,\u201d Gonzalez-Brito said. \u201c… There are programs within that structure that do serve the vulnerable students and more disenfranchised students very, very well. And we need to protect those as much as we can while we\u2019re making these transformational changes.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

Johnnie Williams, a professor at Laney College, also said he is worried about the trustees making a quick decision about the colleges while faculty members and students are on summer break. He also said the limited information about the plan is worrisome.<\/p><\/div>

\u201cThe details are not clear. And to me, that\u2019s a gamble. So to gamble in this community with the people we serve, I agree with the comment that at least another year makes sense. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s right or wrong, but I know it\u2019s wrong right now,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/div>

Gisele Giorgi, a professor at Merritt College, also spoke at Tuesday\u2019s meeting and pointed to a petition she created that advocates against the merger.<\/p><\/div>

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\u201cI was greatly surprised to find myself two days ago writing a petition to ask someone to slow down,\u201d Giorgi told the trustees. \u201c… There are so many questions still left unanswered. We really need to plan better if we\u2019re gonna do this thing, we need to do it really well.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

The petition opposing the merger has garnered more than 300 signatures as of Friday afternoon. Giorgi wrote that the merger \u201cwill result in a funding loss of $3 million to $12 million every year\u201d and that the decision \u201cwas made without adequately considering the voices and needs of those it impacts most \u2014 the students, faculty, and staff.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

However, Mark Johnson, a spokesperson for the district, told SFGATE in an email that the budget figures detailed in the petition are \u201cnot accurate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

He said the district is \u201cbetter off\u201d with the transformation plan as it navigates its future budget plans. The merger would create \u201cadministrative cost savings and projected efficiencies,\u201d and the bulk of its allocated funding is based on the number of full-time students, not the number of colleges, he added.<\/p><\/div>

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\u201cTo put this in perspective, many of our district-wide contracts include a cost per college (not per campus) and we expect those contracts to reflect appropriate savings when renegotiated,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAdditionally, it\u2019s much more efficient to manage three colleges than four.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

Another concern from faculty members is that merging the two colleges is problematic because it would dilute the individual legacies tied to the two schools.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

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