The heat has impacted her and her students’ ability to get through lessons, she added.

“It definitely affects motivation levels. It’s hard enough to focus after a full day of work, let alone when you’re sweating and stuffy,” Barens said.

The school’s administration held an emergency meeting in March to respond to the frigid temperatures. Since then, broken boilers have been replaced at the Mission campus and John Adams campus, located near the Panhandle.

But a lack of heat remains a problem at the school’s Ocean campus.

“It affects me a lot. And the weather is getting colder,” said Li. “I bring a big coat, but I can’t concentrate in class.”

Barens has seen that side of the issue too, as a photography student at CCSF at the Ocean campus.

“I was going to the lab in a visual arts building, and the photo lab was in the basement, and it was freezing in there. Absolutely freezing. They had some space heaters, but it couldn’t heat a whole room,” Barens said. “After an hour in there, my feet would be frozen. I think that definitely affected people’s desire to work.”

The college is also working to replace the HVAC system at its Rosenberg Library.

San Francisco’s community college is a lifeline for students looking to start their educational journey, advance or change careers, or otherwise enrich their lives.