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This is a response I wrote after spending my entire educational tenure trying to prevent fee increases. Fee increases still pervade our low-income working class creating barriers to education. One silver lining is the Board of Governor Grant in the Community College System. Read on... ===========
In response to article in Ventura County Star
(Link article reprint Link)
1/06/2006
Cris Powell and other students like him should be very
careful as to how they develop their opinions on this issue of class fee
hikes. The state has the absolute
responsibility to provide public education through college to its residents as
purported in the state charter. Not that I support this Governor either since before the fee hike freeze he introduced the increases at every turn.
The California
state charter in its infinite wisdom of its legislators, our representatives,
made it clear that the most important factor in the success of CA is that the
citizens be educated. We all know this
to be true thus the charter reflected this as such by making education as a
right in the state to be free of charge with regards to tuition.
Instead, all kinds of fees are not considered under the rubric
of tuition and education administrators have been exploiting students and their
working-class families of which most of the population of the CSU and Community
Colleges attend. These fees which are
many by category nickel-and-dime students into the poor house. You have registration fees, class fees, lab
fees, athletics fees, activities fees, housing fees, parking fees, instructionally-related
fees and more. Oh, and, don't forget
graduation fees. They won't let you
graduate unless you pay, They get you coming and going. It is total gate-keeping. Then there are textbooks. Plus, the legislature *will not* exempt the
tax on textbooks in order to ease your pocketbook pain.
Then because of the expense, you take out student loans and put
yourself and future family into hock. And, when that is not enough, there are always credit cards. Is there a job waiting for you after college
to pay these loans back? Can you count
on this state's economy to provide for you and family? The national average on student loans alone
is over $3 billion dollars now. Are
there $3 billion in jobs available to pay this debt back so that you can think
about starting a family and surviving beyond the back of a station wagon?
In fact, most students, as Tamara Gershater purports, fall
into the major crack of not being eligible for financial aid and being able to
afford the fees. Students who parents can
barely send their students to college or those adults who are funding it
themselves who have parttime jobs with more than poverty level lifestyles are
the most vulnerable to drop-out sooner because of the expense. Additionally, it causes whole family's
financial structures to become unstable.
This is a kludge caused by the state without much
sensitivity to the majority of the public that supplies the majority of the
work force in the state. It's the same
old, "stick it to the middle, working class to foot the tax
bill." The more affluent population
can afford to send their kids to private schools which is why you see such a
disparity of age range between public and private colleges. The average age at the CSU is about 28, if
not, more now due to the economy. Actually, paying class fees, in general, is double-taxation as the funding
from the state *is* taxpayer money.
As a business major, he is still developing his knowledge and
skills as a business major and student. As a student he may not be totally informed enough yet to understand the
underlying issues, messages, tactics and strategies of the business world. While I don't condemn the entire business
education sector as they try to expose students to the world of economics and
marketing, they often tend to throw a slant into it without a mere mention of how
the have-nots are affected. Most
students are left with that void they might trip over.
So, to all those business majors, don't let your many professors
fool you by the economics of the public university you attend unless they are
willing to reveal all sides. In fact, it
should not be a subject of the classroom whatsoever even though it is
real. You must be careful of the real
politik or agenda that is being transmitted to you by them without full disclosure
of the message, sub-ligual/-liminal or blatant. Many times it is about how to save their
personal or departmental budgets over others like the arts, music and physical education. Most of this comes down from above and you do
get fooled by it in the end because you are only there for a short time.
Again, this is not all or most faculty but some, maybe,
many.
Think about your future, the future of the school, your friends,
family and maybe your children you leave behind there. How will they be affected by your decisions
to support such things?
Remember, the burden is on the state to provide public education. Don't let them leverage or balance their
budgets on the backs of students like yours (or us). As reported, there has been a 76% increase in
fees since 2002. These fees are compounded
on top of each other which has steadily come twice a year. For example, 5% in May then another 5% on top
of that in September, then another 5% in January. That is not 15% if you do the math.
Plus, don't let them talk you into that California is the lowest in class fees
(tuition) in the country. That is a
bunch of baloney. Our cost of living in California is one of the
highest in the country and doesn't reflect the complete cost of living compared
to other areas. Bruce Wolfe, M.S.W.
City College of SF 1995-98,
Associated Students Exec. Vice-President (1997-98)
SF State University 1997-2004,
Associated Students
President/elected leader(1998-2004) |
Bruce's Blog 
