Calif. Community Colleges Now FREE for 1st Year (Fresno, Riverside: low income, insurance)

[payutenyodagimas]

Originally Posted by HB2HSV

Just to stir the pot...


1). Will they verify legal residency status before accepting enrollment?


2). Will they institute the quota system to limit MORE QUALIFIED but poor people out of acceptance?




Discuss among yourself....

I had conversation with someone who sent her kids to UC straight from CC. she said that they should maintain the highest grades possible and to do that, avoid the CC that is most competitive

[volosong]

Originally Posted by max210

I don't want to pay for other peoples problems.

BTW, CC is cheap enough as it is. How about young adults taking on some personal responsibility.

Lack of education is not a personal problem . . . it is a societal problem. Being an adjunct, I taught most of my classes in the evening. I'd venture to say that at least 85% of my students had full-time day jobs and were in school to earn a degree and better themselves. That can only benefit a society, especially an industrial, technological one; as is ours.

And, community college isn't "cheap". Tuition is only the start. Add to that a multitude of mandatory fees, and it starts getting expensive. On top of that, you have $100-$200 textbooks for each class. No! It isn't "cheap enough as it is".

And, these young adults are taking some personal responsibility. They are in class, doing what they should at their age; earning a college degree, one that serves as a 'stepping stone' to more advanced degrees.

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by payutenyodagimas

I had conversation with someone who sent her kids to UC straight from CC. she said that they should maintain the highest grades possible and to do that, avoid the CC that is most competitive

That is closer to the truth than most people realized. I have a funny theory about that. Because most colleges and graduate schools look at your GPA, it is actually more advantageous to get a good GPA from a so-so school than it is to get a so-so GPA from a great school.


UC system is not cheap. What does it cost now? $30K per year for just tuition alone? That was the Ivy League schools tuition when I went to college!

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by payutenyodagimas

I had conversation with someone who sent her kids to UC straight from CC. she said that they should maintain the highest grades possible and to do that, avoid the CC that is most competitive

A different way of looking at it is that you should want your kids to attend the BEST community college possible and then do their best to earn good grades in all of their classes there so that they are well-prepared when they transfer to a 4-year university, be it a UC or elsewhere.

I've seen a lot of kids lose interest in college because they ended up at community colleges where they didn't feel challenged or where only a tiny portion of students actually ever transferred (or even completed their AA).

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by HB2HSV

T

UC system is not cheap. What does it cost now? $30K per year for just tuition alone?

Actually, this year, tuition alone at the UCs is $13,900 for California residents (again, this is tuition only).

The Cal States are even less expensive -- just $5,742 a year (tuition only).

Just for comparison's sake, the average cost of tuition alone at all U.S. public universities is about $9600.

So, the UC is charging its residents a bit more than the national public U average and the Cal States significantly less, but, let's face it, most public universities in other states don't even come close to the academic quality/prestige of the UC.

(The University of Virginia and the University of Michigan are two comparable state flagships that I know of off the top of my head which charge significantly more than the UCs for resident tuition alone, but there may be others).

By the way, if you're not a California resident, the cost for tuition alone at a UC is $40,644 for non-residents this year.

By comparison, Harvard's tuition alone is $43,280.

Average cost of tuition alone at private colleges is currently running about $33,480 a year.

So both the UCs and Cal States are still bargains for resident students by comparison.

[payutenyodagimas]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

A different way of looking at it is that you should want your kids to attend the BEST community college possible and then do their best to earn good grades in all of their classes there so that they are well-prepared when they transfer to a 4-year university, be it a UC or elsewhere.

I've seen a lot of kids lose interest in college because they ended up at community colleges where they didn't feel challenged or where only a tiny portion of students actually ever transferred (or even completed their AA).

whatever works..


this family was probably thinking of this old Chinese saying: better to be the head of a chicken than to be the tail of a cow

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by payutenyodagimas

this family was probably thinking of this old Chinese saying: better to be the head of a chicken than to be the tail of a cow

LOL!

Actually a little off topic, but for kids who plan to study STEM majors, there is some truth to that saying. A lot of research has shown that kids whose college entrance test scores put them towards the top of their college classmates end up doing better and persisting in STEM majors than those whose test scores are in the middle or low end of their peers.

This is true whether you go to Harvard or a much less selective school. So, someone who is in the middle range of test scores at say, Harvard, actually has less chance of succeeding in STEM majors than someone with lower test scores who is at the top of a less competitive school.

Still, if transferring is the goal, I'd rather have my kid attend a better quality community college and have to work his or her butt off to earn good grades than attend a crappy one just to coast along.

[davidt1]

This is nothing more than yet another wealth transfer to suck taxpayers dry. Make college so expensive that the poor can't pay and make the working taxpayers pay for them. How has education become so expensive? It shouldn't have because they teach the same subjects every year. Are you telling me that "Music Appreciation 101" should cost five times what it cost five years ago? For most classes, it's the same stuff they teach year after year. Where does the money go? It goes to highly paid administrators and public union teachers whose union demand ever more salary, benefits and pensions from taxpayers.

You will hear from the cheerleaders, who no surprise are in the education industry, the usual responses such as, it is for the good of the public, it only costs a few pennies/dollar per taxpayer, blah, blah, blah.

Meanwhile I am expecting a "free community college" tax on my property tax bill.

[payutenyodagimas]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

LOL!

better quality community college and have to work his or her butt off to earn good grades than attend a crappy one just to coast along.

aren't they the same all over OC? maybe one or 2 are craps but we know the good ones over here. they just don't want to go this particular CC

[Listener2307]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned that California students will now be able to attend Community College for FREE (first year only). This is GREAT news for California high school students and their parents!

Here's an article about this from the Sacramento Bee:

California will provide a year of free community college for new students


California community colleges will provide a year of free tuition after Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed legislation that aims to boost declining enrollment and address a shortage of college-educated workers in the state.

Assembly Bill 19 waives the first year of fees for any first-time student who enrolls full-time at one of 114 community colleges in the state.

At $46 per credit, or less than $1,400 annually for a full course load, California’s community colleges are the cheapest in the country.

Full story: CA free community college bill signed by Jerry Brown | The Sacramento Bee

Brown refused to sign another broader bill earlier this year that would have made all public universities free. At the time, he said that the cost of that bill was way too high. But, he decided to sign this much smaller bill last week, which is expected to cost only about $31 million a year.

Tennessee, Oregon and Rhode Island have already enacted similar Community College bills for students in their states, by the way.

They are offering potential drop-outs a lollipop if they will stay in school and "go on to college". It will make their state look better even if it doesn't improve things.

California is 30th in terms of high school graduation rate.
Only 82% of 9th graders go on to graduate from high school.

Top states?........ Iowa, New Jersey, and Alabama.
High School Graduation Rates by State