Column: Generation Why? We should do our part

A fee increase can help alleviate some of the woes

Emily Kelley / Roundup

The California community college system boasts the lowest unit prices in the nation. And for the low price of $26 a unit, students can experience over-crowded classrooms, mass section cuts and diminished services.

Why? Because the 110-campus system is receiving $103 million less than last year under the Governor’s proposed budget.

There is no simple solution to this, but there are options. One of which is increasing the price of units, even a just few dollars.

The budget crisis is nothing new, especially in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD). The direct effects could be seen around Pierce College the first weeks of school.

And yet, despite all of the headaches, students still enroll by the truckloads and pack themselves into classrooms, begging for a spot. This would not change even if the unit price was raised a mere $1, and even this minimal increase would help to loosen the increasingly tight belt.

Think about it.

The L.A. Times recently wrote in an editorial that at $27 a unit, the school system would have generated an additional $12.5 million a year. A $10 increase would have made $125 million. That would almost make up for the money the state is not providing, and California would still have the lowest costing community college systems in the United States.

Now, a lot people might balk at the idea of $30 or more a unit, but in the end it’s going to save the students of this school, district and state a great deal of money.

Because of the budget cuts, classes have been axed and class sizes have been capped. Both of these things, combined with the record number of enrollment, pose many obvious problems.

With class sizes smaller and fewer classes anyway, many students were not able to get into the classes they needed. This means that students will have to stay in school longer, costing them even more money.

It wouldn’t just be more in tuition. Staying in school longer means another semester or years worth of books and housing expenses too. And we here in the San Fernando Valley know that living expenses cost much more than our tuition does.

Yes, we’re paying for the financial crisis figuratively and literally. But even as students, we’re still citizens of this state and if we can do something to help, we should.

Of course, like most change, big impact will take time. Most of us will (hopefully) be long departed from our fair Pierce, but what about those who come after us?

Your brothers and sisters. Your cousins. Your children.

For them to be able to sit comfortably in a classroom and complete college in four years, it has to start with us.

We didn’t start the fire, but we can help put out the flames.

A good education is priceless. So isn’t getting one worth paying for?