In the absence of additional funding, the Learning Resource Center will have to spread its budget money allocated for two semesters into three when CSUN begins its tri-semester system this summer.

The shift means the LRC will have to spend its money wisely, said Sheryl Thompson, director of LRC.

“We have to take our annual budget and take it out through three semesters for the first time,” Thompson said.

The LRC has already been planning what support it will provide for students throughout the semesters and into the summer semester, she said.

“We have to be careful how much we allocate,” Thompson added. “We want to provide the same for students every semester.”

Year-Round Operations, a system in which the university will have three semesters (fall, spring and summer), will be implemented in June. The summer session will last 12 weeks.

The center will still provide students with all its services despite the limited budget, Thompson said.

The end of the summer will determine how the LRC handles its budget in the future. The experience of the first year will help the money management for the following academic year, Thompson said.

More students are starting to take advantage of the services provided by the LRC. In tutoring services, there were 3,000 visits from 1,100 students in Fall 2005, a number that has nearly doubled over the years, Thompson said.

The writing lab support for remedial and freshman composition had 2,331 visits. The increase in students visiting and using the services of the LRC has no effect on the budget, Thompson said.

The center is important for students to get help outside of the classroom, said Petros Nagapetyan, a freshman marketing major who uses the LRC for his English class.

“It’s outside of class, and you can spend time with them and get help on pretty much anything,” he said.

If the LRC was to limit its services due to the budget, it would hurt many students who need the assistance provided by the center, Nagapetyan said.

Not having an LRC would hurt students and faculty, said Kristyan Kouri, sociology and women’s studies professor.

“The Learning Resource Center helps students with grammar, punctuation, paragraph breaks (and) things that we cannot teach them one on one,” Kouri said. “It’s really hard for me to give individual attention.”

The upcoming year for LRC will be fine with the funding it has, Thompson said.

The LRC is funded by CSUN and recently received a Learning-Centered University grant to help expand their services on campus.

“We are going to be OK,” Thompson said. “We are not going anywhere.”