This Orange County Register article ran on 9/27/13 quoting local student activists in opposition to AB 955. Including yours truly, check it out! "Community college students fight Long Beach two-tiered tuition plan" By SCOTT MARTINDALE Long Beach City College could become the first community college in California to charge nearly $500 more for some high-demand classes, a plan that has rankled students across the state who oppose a two-tiered pricing system. Both houses of the state Legislature have signed off on a five-year experiment that would allow Long Beach community college officials to offer certain three-unit classes for $627 during summer and winter; the same course would continue to cost $138 during fall and spring – or $489 less. “This is just a gross disaster to think that a community college should even consider this,” said Fullerton College student Don Lundy, 32, of Anaheim, a single father who has been on and off government assistance. “I’m living bare-bones minimum just to get through – now we’re starting to use classes to nickel and dime students further into poverty?” Unlike past efforts to create two-tiered pricing at community colleges, including a much-maligned proposal at Santa Monica College last year, Long Beach community college officials said they’re looking forward to offering the higher-priced courses if the bill becomes law. An estimated 500,000 students have been turned away over the past five years as community colleges shuttered courses in response to declining state aid, according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. “I think it’s obscene that there are community college students who have been here for six or seven years because they couldn’t get the classes they need,” said Jeffrey Kellogg, president of the Long Beach Community College District board. “If the state of California gave us the money we need to address this demand, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.” The final hurdle for AB 955, authored by Assemblyman Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara, is the governor’s signature. Gov. Jerry Brown has not indicated whether he’ll sign; he has until Oct. 13. LONG BEACH ALONE AB 955 identifies six California community college districts that could opt into the inaugural experiment. But except for Long Beach, they either aren’t eligible to participate or aren’t interested in opting in, at least not immediately, according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. Although none of the six districts is in Orange County, the issue has galvanized local students who view the Long Beach plan as an assault on the low-barrier-to-access philosophy that is a hallmark of California’s community college system. Voters approved California’s Proposition 30 last year with the promise that all community college students could benefit from the restored state funding, said Orange Coast College student Tanner Kelly, chairman of the Coast Community College District’s student council. “I don’t believe that because my parents are able to help me financially get through college, that I should have priority access over someone from a family in a different life situation who can’t afford that,” said Kelly, 20, of Orange. Student activists like Kelly have been working for the past few weeks to urge defeat of the bill, first by contacting state legislators as the bill made its way through the Assembly and Senate, and now by petitioning the governor, said Matthew Blake of Tustin, a student senator for the statewide community college student government. “If the governor signs it, we will go to the district and lobby against the district implementing this policy,” said Blake, 38, a Santiago Canyon College student. NO PROFIT MADE Long Beach college officials say they wouldn’t make any money off students who enroll in the higher-priced courses; rather, AB 955 would allow colleges to set tuition levels just high enough to cover the college’s full costs of administering the course. At Long Beach, that price tag is $209 a unit, which is the rate non-California residents already pay. Also, the proposed course additions would not exist if Long Beach had to offer these courses at the standard price of $46 a unit – the college simply doesn’t have the money, Kellogg said. “I don’t know if it’s the answer to all the problems, but it’s an innovative idea to address needs that otherwise would not be addressed,” Kellogg said. Under AB 955, participating community college districts would need to meet certain requirements, including enrollment thresholds. The North Orange County Community College District, which encompasses Fullerton and Cypress colleges, is among 38 districts in California that meet the eligibility requirements. (However, only six districts, including Long Beach, are granted explicit authorization under AB 955 to proceed.) North Orange County district trustee Jeffrey Brown said he was glad his district wasn’t invited to participate in the inaugural experiment. Such a move would first require extensive discussion with students and faculty, he said. “It’s a very difficult situation,” Brown said. “We’re faced with a lot of demand to provide more than what the state funding has provided. But this bill has the potential to lead to a more permanent system of tiered community college funding – that’s not the model we’d want to see.” The notion that this two-tiered pricing system might spread to other campuses is particularly disconcerting to Claudia Peña of Buena Park, who has attended Cypress College for the past five years. She’s been making presentations in her classes about AB 955 and asking other professors to talk about it with their students, she said. And as a North Orange County student trustee, she said she’s planning to urge the district board to formally oppose it. “The students who go to summer session are the ones who want to get out earlier,” Peña, 23, said. “We definitely need to get our voices heard so no community college student has to face this bill.” Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or smartindale@ocregister
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 02:07:25 +0000
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