A new dental hygienist training program at the College of San Mateo for which a facility has already been built has been put on an indefinite hold due to lack of state funding, according to a news story in the Examiner.
The college had lost too much funding by the time the building was completed last year, and now the facility will remain locked up.
"When we're cutting English classes and mathematics classes and there's waiting lists for those, you have to make some decisions about what you can and can't do," Michael Claire, president of the college, stated in the story. "You have to make really tough decisions about the have to haves versus the nice to haves."
The intention was to expand the college's dental assistant program to include a dental hygiene program, and before the program was put on hold, 40 or 50 students had already expressed an interest in it, according to the story.
The college officials are hopeful that the program can resume when the economy recovers and the district has some money, the story concluded.
