should be free

Pierce is a commuter college; this means that thousands of students come to and from our campus while carrying their personal belongings.

Many of these students depend on public transit and only have their backpacks and purses to accommodate their mobile lifestyles.

That’s textbooks, notebooks, laptops, supplies, lunches, entire academic lives, being shouldered by students that already carry the burden of their studies.

A safe place to store away all this baggage would be great and surely appreciated.

Though there are lockers available next to the student store, they are too expensive and, well, what other reason do you need not to use them?

The bookstore locker fees are: $2.50 per day, $10 per week and $30 per semester.

Using these lockers costs more than purchasing a preferred parking pass and it is apparent that they are not even being used.

The Roundup took a look at these lockers and not even half-a-dozen of these 64 lockers were occupied.

According to Candy Van, assistant bookstore manager, about 15 to 30 students rent lockers for the full semester every year.

That means that less than 0.1 percent out of the 19,000 students on campus use these lockers provided.

Perhaps if advertising was being done to promote the usage of these lockers they’d actually generate some revenue and the money received could be applied towards the returning investment.

Then again there’s also the fact that the electronic payment system on these high-priced lockers is currently out of order.

It seems that these electronic payment systems that were provided by the college in 2002 to assist students has actually become more of a problem 10 years later.

The only way to access your locker is with assistance from a bookstore cashier, not very convenient for the Brahma on-the-go.

Not to mention, there are also restrictions that come with occupying these lockers during business hours only.

Aside from the lockers up on the art hill for art students, and the lockers in the gym for student athletes, there is no other place for the everyday student to stash their things.

And according to Paul Nieman, director of facilities, there aren’t any plans to include lockers in the new library that is under construction.

Pierce might want to consider doing as they do at California State University, Northridge (CSUN).

CSUN provides currently enrolled students with lockers, free-of-cost. All you need to do is bring a lock.

Getting a locker is as easy as finding an empty one and signing up at the library’s circulation desk.

While the lockers next to the student store lie in abandon, a locker system such as the one at CSUN would be beneficial to the campus in more ways than one.

Providing free lockers would be a great service to a generation of students that are caught in a time of economic worry, especially with so many of them struggling to get to and around campus with over-priced books in their bags.

Thumbs up & Thumbs down

A gargantuan thumbs up to the brave souls who are responsible for covering the huge pile of manure in the Village with a tarp. The Village can now breathe easy.

Enrolling in classes hurts

Priority registration is pointless if given to the majority of students

I marked the day and time of my registration appointment on my calendar with the numbers inked in bright red.

The rest of my life hinged on that moment. Well, at least the next semester.

I did my research. I spent hours fitting together different possible schedules, looking up the courses I needed, and mapping out different scenarios. But nothing prepared me for what came next.

Every single math class that I tried to add was closed. There were no waiting lists.

Even the nearly four-hour long once-a-week Saturday class was full.

It’s clearly stated in the Fall 2012 schedule of classes that “Pierce College does not utilize the wait list system.”

It all added up: my inability to land a spot in a math class extended my stay at this “twoyear” community college another semester.

Granted, I’ve spent a few semesters treating my education like a force-fed dose of medicine, and, had I tattooed my past majors on my arm, my tattoo artist would’ve had a lot of practice crossing stuff out. But is that so uncommon?

And, besides, my academic dawdling landed me in priority registration territory.

Misleading storm clouds soon darkened my bright blue sky.

According to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, in the Spring of 2012 there were 16,398 returning students out of 21,643 that were accounted for.

To clarify, that means 75.8 percent of the student body was granted “priority” registration.

A new set of regulations have recently been passed in California

Monica Velasquez mvelasquez.roundupnews@gmail.com

giving students that have created an academic plan and who maintain good academic standing will now have priority registration, according to a Pierce College Pulse Online article.

This adds to the people that have “priority registration.” Don’t forget, “active-duty military and veterans and current and former foster youth” will continue to have first call on courses, followed by students in Extended Opportunity Programs and Services and Disabled Students Programs and Services.

The way I see it, Pierce has two options: either find a less misleading name for “priority registration,” or granite more stringently so it lives up to its name.

Students who petition to graduate or to be certified should be given true priority registration.

These dedicated students are so close their goal. But, if for some reason, they can’t register for a class they need, they’ll have to wait a whole semester before they can try again.

I hope, for their sake, it’s not one of the classes that are only offered in the Spring and Fall semesters.

Sunday Salter, the Director of the Transfer Center, spoke with The Roundup early in the Fall of 2012 on the slow transfer rates.

“[A] dedicated student who wants to transfer in two years [has] got to hustle,” Salter said.

And, from the looks of it, my hustle wasn’t on. I’m 23 and still in community college five years after I took my first math class at Pierce. Hopefully, the Spring will bring better luck. If not, the student body will have to put up with my writings for another year.