A potential $800 million cut to the California Community College system may lead to 400,000 students being unable to enroll in junior colleges throughout the state. The likely cut would result from the failure of legislators to put a tax extension proposal on a June ballot.

The reduction is the largest the system has ever faced. This could spell trouble for students who hope to transfer to the University of California from the CCC system, said Nancy Coolidge, an administrator for the UC Office of the President.

“Cuts to the community colleges’ budget means students are unable to get into critical classes that are required to transfer to the UC,” Coolidge said. “They are waiting for semesters at a time to take a single class, and it’s taking them longer to be eligible to transfer.”

Getting into impacted classes at community colleges is one of the most challenging parts of attending the schools, said Abdul Daouk, a third-year linguistics and psychology student.

“These budget cuts are going to make it really tedious when people are forced to take even more unnecessary classes while they’re killing time to take key classes to transfer,” he said.

Daouk, who attended community college for two years for financial reasons, said one of his most exciting moments was when he received his acceptance letter from UCLA.

“When I got in, I yelled so loud I scared my grandma and mom nearly to death,” he said. “I couldn’t believe I was getting the chance to come to UCLA, and I was so grateful for my community college for getting me in.”

According to the UCLA Undergraduate Admissions website, Daouk was one of 3,228 transfer students who entered UCLA in September. Of those, 2,967 came from the California Community College system.

Though the number of transfer students should not be affected by the budget cuts, students are entering the UC with far beyond the necessary unit minimum of 60 units, Coolidge said.

“Students are coming in with 80 or 90 units because they are sitting around waiting for these critical classes,” she said.

“What’s sad is that these students are wasting their financial aid on their time at community colleges and not the $12,000 price tag for a UC education.”

In addition to the educational system in general, cuts to community colleges could also affect the future job market, a group of community college presidents and chancellors warned this weekend.

“The bottom line is that students and people trying to train for the workforce will not have the opportunities they should be provided because of this inability to reach an agreement on the governor’s budget balancing plan,” said Constance Carroll, chancellor of San Diego Community College District, in a briefing.