Missing Student Project Spring 2004 / Each of the life sized figures seen below represents 500 missing students. A 2003 study released at the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges meeting stated that 175,000 community college students had been denied access due to system wide class and services reductions. These reductions continue to be the result of ongoing budget cuts to education. The "Missing Student Project" has been undertaken to draw attention to Californians' steady loss of access to public education.