Do you belong to an exclusive club where class and race are used
as membership criteria? No? Think again.
Becoming a Bruin has always been difficult, but it’s
getting harder ““ and I’m not talking about academics.
With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s tuition increase, as well
as the state’s declining availability of financial aid for
middle-income families, UCLA is suddenly and quite dramatically
less affordable and, to some prospective students, less appealing.
The slide isn’t over, either.
Now Schwarzenegger proposes that 10 percent of all eligible
University of California students should be turned away in the
admissions process and the California State University system
should turn away around 4,000 additional applicants.
These students will be directed toward their local community
colleges and, after two years, given a spot at a UC school. These
measures have been taken to ensure that more students flock to
community colleges as opposed to UC and CSU schools.
Schwarzenegger’s approach to “solve”
California’s educational problem is injurious to our
state’s future. In 1959, the California Master Plan for
Higher Education guaranteed that the top 12.5 percent of
California’s public high school graduates would be accepted
into at least one UC school. Eligible students must continue to be
provided access to the UC system for all four years – not just two.
Schwarzenegger must not break the promise the UCs have made to
California’s students.
Nowadays, attending a UC means more work and more money. In the
past few years, UCLA has significantly raised tuition costs and
perhaps, because of this fact, UC applications have dropped for the
first time in a decade.
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger is now targeting cuts to minority
outreach programs on UC and CSU campuses, thus terminating programs
that provide much needed educational opportunities for
underprivileged youth.
Students such as Avalon Hernandez, a first-year student at Mira
Costa Community College, now have doubts about attending a UC
school. Hernandez lives at home, works three jobs, attends
community college to save money, and helps educate underprivileged
families on the benefits of college education.
“I can barely pay for gas,” she says. For students
like Hernandez, the 10 percent raise in UC undergraduate tuition is
financially discouraging. Explains Hernandez, “In my work
with encouraging education, it’s so hard to convince people
that college is a good choice to be made and then to try to explain
to them, at the same time, the budget cuts and the fee
hikes.”
When sworn into office last October, Schwarzenegger proclaimed,
“For the people to win, politics as usual must lose.”
The governor, however, is now engaging in such “politics as
usual.” He chose to hurt those voters who can hurt him the
least ““ California’s students. As a group, students
have little political clout.
In fact, voter turnout among 18-25 year-olds has taken a
particularly dramatic plunge in the past 30 years, falling from 50
percent to 32 percent. Meanwhile, the governor’s cuts to
education most strongly impact lower class, immigrant and youth
communities ““ who historically vote Democratic. To a
Republican, this population bloc is apparently fair game.
The end result? More students may have to attend community
college, and after completing 60 UC-accepted units, transfer to a
UC school. Joshua Dunn, a fourth-year transfer student from El
Camino College majoring in political science, coordinates
UCLA’S Transfer Student Association.
Dunn explains the unfortunate disappointment some students
confront when entering community college: “Many high
schoolers just wait for college, and when they get there, they want
the “˜real thing'”“ football games, dorm
experiences, night life. Community college, however, isn’t
“˜real’ college in the sense that UCLA is
“˜real’ college. It’s different.”
Meanwhile, the adjustment of transferring to a UC isn’t
exactly stress free. While other students have already experienced
two years of the size, atmosphere and pace of a university,
transfer students must instantly acclimate to UC life. Many
struggle while adjusting to the quarter system, heavy workloads and
negative perceptions held by some faculty and students regarding
their scholastic abilities. Studies have also found that transfer
students are prone not to participate in extra-curricular
activities due to their stressful adjustment period.
It is important, however, to remember that community colleges
provide enormous opportunities. Affordability, close proximity,
smaller class sizes and smooth student-teacher communication can be
a real benefit. Furthermore, community colleges can let a student
sample a wide variety of fields without locking them into a
particular major.
If a student wishes to attend a community college, a CSU or a
UC, the choice should be open. Schwarzenegger’s drastic
changes to California’s universities will limit opportunities
and, for some students, force a decision upon them. Students do not
hold much political clout, and the governor is taking full
advantage of this fact. Thus, it is up to us to make our voices
heard. Do not let the choice be made for you. Do not allow higher
education to become the worst kind of exclusive club. As Hernandez
says, “Education should be there for those who need it most,
and this must be recognized.”
Fried is a first-year history student. E-mail her at
ifried@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.