College Tuition - Megan McGee

 

 

 

In California, state legislatures just passed a bill that will triple the cost of community colleges statewide. State legislation came to this conclusion because of the overcrowding in the colleges. Since 2008, over 600,000 students have been turned down to further their education because of the high demand for a much cheaper community college. Years of budget cuts in education have caused there to be 86,000 fewer classes in addition to putting 500,000 students on a waiting list. This wait will put students behind in the pursuit attending a four year college after community and essential behind in their four year degree.

The bill also states that it will allow 6 campuses to start a four-year program which will offer extension courses in the summer and winter semesters. The bill has yet to be signed by state Governor Brown. California Community Colleges Chancellor, Vincent Stewart believes that it is the duty of the state to channel tax dollars into education in order to keep it affordable for students. Stewart states, “We’re now saying that it’s no longer the role of the state and we’re just going to have students bear the cost.”

Supporters of the bill insist that one-third of the tuition will go toward financial aid. This will help lower income students afford more expensive classes. Governor Brown stated that if voters approved higher taxes, there will be no reason to raise tuition. He has until the middle of October to decide on the bill and the future of community college students.

As someone who has been a victim of the cruelty and injustice of high college tuition, I took this article to heart. My freshman year of college, I attended a private university only to end up at a community college because of the insanely high price. Going to a community college was one of the best decisions of my life. It was affordable and offered many opportunities. The price of higher education is unjust. You should not have to be in debt for years after college because you wanted to further your education. The higher education system is bias toward those who have higher income. Nowadays, the amount of money you have dictates where you go to school and how long it takes you to graduate. I find this unreasonable because those who can’t afford college are deferred away from it. Financial aid is offered and it is possible to get scholarship money, but in most of the cases it still leaves you with a lot of money left over to pay. Community college is an escape route of paying excessively high tuition and saving money while still furthering your education. For community college tuition to now triple is insane. Legislators and lawmakers need to find a way to put more money in the educational budget nationwide. I have seen too many schools and programs fall subject to budget cuts. This is important as a nation because we are falling behind in education compared to other countries around the world. College tuition should be affordable and fair. We could be denying the next great mind of our generation an education because they were not able to afford college.


Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/state&id=9259438