Hello all,

My name is Masa and I was just laid off from my job due to budget cuts.

I have worked at South Puget Sound Community College for the last 3 years, and I was unceremoniously cut due to claimed budget shortfalls yesterday with no notice.

I am the sole provider for my family of 3 (plus a dog) and I am worried for our future.

Please share or, if you have the means, it would be greatly appreciated for any support.

2/18/26 - details

I was laid off with no notice on 2/18/26 and strongly suggested to leave within the hour. I asked if I could at least work the rest of my day and again it was strongly suggested that I do not. So I had to pack up and leave. There was a forum held on 2/9/26 where budget issues and staff/program cuts were announced to the staff and later community, in which they said that this was no surprise and was a long time coming to them (that was not the case for us as staff of course). They said they would be making cuts until April. Other departments were given some warning, the Culinary, Baking and Pastry Arts, and Paralegal programs are being taught out so they won't fully close til the end of the year with the current cohort giving them time, but the rest of us exempt staff were given absolutely no notice. To be clear, I understand budget and that education is being cut left and right. I wasn't hoping to be kept on, all I really wish they did was let me finish out the year with the students I was currently working with, most in very vulnerable positions (homeless, no parents, very low income, other very marginalized identities, etc) who now have yet another person in their lives that it looks like had abandoned them because I wasn't given a chance to finish out the year. Not the year, not a few months, not a month, not even the end of the day so I could email my students. The hour.

I am devastated to say the least. I loved this job. I was good at this job. And I needed this job to stay afloat. After everything that's happened in the past few years working here; one of my best friends dying suddenly, the house fire, my mom being in the ER for a week twice, and many smaller things that I just don't have the capacity to talk about, this was the last thing I or my family needed.

Please help us keep a roof over our head, feed our kid and dog, and just make it through until I can find something else. Thank you for reading and I appreciate and shares or donations, truly with all my heart.