Imagine you go to the grocery store and find long lines at the checkout. A clerk approaches and says, “You can wait in line, or if you’re willing to pay four times more, we can get you out right away.” That, in essence, is what Assemblyman Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara, is proposing for California’s community colleges in Assembly Bill 955. Can’t get into a high-demand course? Pay a $600 fee for a three-credit course and take it during the summer or winter intersession. Students in the regular class would pay the usual $138. Parallel courses, but different prices… The bill’s sponsor is trying to mitigate the damage of two-tier pricing by setting aside one-third of fee revenue from the higher-cost courses for lower-income students. That doesn’t change the basic problem, however — setting up a “hot lane” instead of working slowly to reverse the cuts and the waiting lines that resulted from the economic downturn.

Read full article [here].
by The Editorial Board, The Modesto Bee.

Posted: May 6th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.