Budget Crunch Threatens Open Enrollment at Montgomery College
He had no money and barely spoke English. But Iranian immigrant Hamid Seyedin wasn't going to let that stop him from getting a college education.</br></br>So he turned, in 1970, to the one school that was within his means and would take him: Montgomery College.</br></br>"Without Montgomery College, I would still be washing dishes," said Seyedin, 40, who attended the school while working at a Silver Spring restaurant and is now a senior partner in a Washington investment firm.</br></br>"The fact is that Montgomery College was the only choice I had because of affordability and my limited English," he said.</br></br>But soon, Seyedin, a college trustee, may have to take actions he fears could place the two-year community college out of reach for many students. Faced with budget cuts and rising enrollments, he and other college trustees are trying to decide whether to slash programs and keep the doors open to everyone, or impose new limits on who may attend Montgomery, the largest community college in Maryland.