Summer Dawn/Roundup
According to the LA Times, a joint legislative committee has proposed that raising the fees at community colleges will allow for more students to attend college.
The question is then, should California Community Colleges raise fees or not?
Fees are raised so that more money is going back to the schools. The money going back to the schools will then be used to help lower income individuals pay for classes.
How is this fair? Struggling students should not be left to pay for other people to go to school.
Come on students—pay more money. The difference in cost between community colleges and universities is huge.
Students at community colleges pay only $26 per unit. They’re admitted with very little restriction.
While universities are charging between $402 and $2,512 per unit (with many restrictions). Perhaps this is the reason many students attend community college; its actually affordable.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the state’s Master Plan for Higher Education is responsible for this gap, but is also the reason California has been a leader in higher education.
The plan was created in 1960, said the Legislative Analysts Office. It sought to separate California schools based on merit and goal.
According to the Master Plan, University of California schools would have limited admittance, but would produce degrees high in Merit.
State schools would be a little more lenient but would still require hard work. They would also deliver standard degrees that would lead to a growing working class.
Community colleges would allow free access and would be a stepping-stone in order to move up the Master Plan chain.
The Legislative Analysts Office said the high fees charged for UC and state schools coupled with low community college fees is tearing the Master Plan apart. This isn’t true. UC schools still have limited admittance and degrees of high merit. How could they not have limited admittance with such high tuition?
State schools still have that section of middle class Californians attending, mainly because their parents are paying. Finally, community college still has free access. It seems in more ways than one. Increasing the fees for community college classes will only stop more students from attending college.
This Master plan is dwindling. Higher echelon schools are out of the question for many students as finding a way to pay the fees is impossible. This is why so many community colleges are overfilled and overworked.
Increasing the fees at community colleges will only lead to a generation disgruntled adults. Students will end up working too hard for the goal that might not even be achieved now. When and if it is, they will be shit out of luck because there will be so many other people competing for their job.
An April report by the Public Policy Institute of California warned that the state was in danger of being close to one million college graduates short of what the labor market will demand in 2025.
The initial thought to this statistic is how awful that will be. For students who are currently paying for school though, it rocks!
This means they will get that awesome job they have worked so hard for. Less competition means greater opportunity. They will finally be rewarded for their hard work. They will no longer be stepped on by the underdog.
I am deeply sorry my fellow lower class Californians. All I have to say is I’m broke too.
—