These are not the choices college leaders signed up for: immigrants or retirees? Poor or rich? Car repair or English classes?

A series of tough years has forced California colleges and universities to slash budgets, in part by cutting back on the number of classes they offer. Nearly every campus has trimmed courses, and more cuts are planned for the summer and fall.

The lack of money puts administrators in a particularly difficult position, forcing them to decide which students get pushed off campus.

With record unemployment and high-school graduates, demand for higher education is at an all-time high. But California's two public university systems have cut enrollment, and community colleges expect a decline this year because students are unable to get the classes they need.

Unemployed workers "are trying to come back to school, and they know this is the place to do it," said McKinley Williams, president of Contra Costa College in San Pablo. "But we're having to turn them away."

The conundrum comes down to priorities. Each school decides which programs are essential — and which ones must now be considered luxuries.

At most campuses, that strategy has eliminated classes with fewer than 20 students and electives that do not help students achieve a degree or certificate, such as courses on sports-related films, one such class proposed for