photo: zzzack/ BY

How can California have one of the top ten largest economies in the world and have so many education funding problems? How can an economy stay on top when students preparing to enter the workforce can’t even find a job?

I have been asking myself these questions for the last few days ever since I received an e-mail from the junior college where I had planned on attending summer classes, West Los Angeles College. They wrote me saying that all summer classes would be cancelled since there was not enough money to adequately fund the growing enrollment for the Fall/Spring 2009-2010 school year.
Gone are sunny California days for new and continuing college students: with little money coming from the state government, many community colleges have been forced to either shorten or cut their summer school sessions. This is not to say that K-12 schools have been spared this awful fate; LAUSD has been forced to cut summer school for elementary and middle school with their growing deficit.

I have been dreading this moment ever since last year, when pink slips and cuts started floating around in elementary and secondary schools. I remember thinking that there was no possible way that community colleges and four-year universities would be left unscathed, because they are just as reliant on state funding, especially if they are classified as public schools.
In California, as the state economy slips further into the red, education, with health care and prisons close behind, is the first turkey on the chopping block. Teachers, fellow students, and I started discussing these present day problems when I was a sophomore in high school. We knew what was coming, but I don’t think anyone could have been prepared for how far it would go. My teachers in high school would always say that a student’s ability to be self-motivated and determined to receive an education would be the make or break for the student in the event of less school funding. Though I agree with that sentiment and strive to live by it, sometimes, bureaucracy will shoot motivation in the foot.
My situation is a bit complicated. The college I first attended after high school is located in North Carolina. After my first year, I decided to transfer back to a school in California, but opted to finish some requirements on the cheap at my local 2-year institution, West L.A. College, before I transferred to a more expensive school. When I was accepted to USC as a transfer junior last year, I came in with the hopes that most of the units I had completed at other schools would be accepted. I wasn’t worried about my units from the community college because my school schedule met USC's requirements. However, I was concerned about the units from my freshman year of college because it was out of state. Something told me that I should be very worried, but, keeping my teachers' advice in mind, I decided to be productive instead of anxious. I knew that I would need those credits to graduate and figured that I could complete them in summer school. However, had I known what the future state budget would hold, I would have taken classes last summer. I have a feeling that thousands of us would have flocked to classes during daytime and nighttime to beat the cuts. So much for my teacher's wisdom.

Those six additional credits that I need to complete during the summer semester are going to make the difference between me graduating in May 2010 or staying in school an additional semester. All that for six measly units. With no alternative, I have had to apply to a community college outside of L.A. County. I have been able to land one class, but the two other classes I was interested are full, meaning that I am now waitlisted, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the students already enrolled are coming from my district as well!
I’m incensed, and I believe that each and every college student in California whose drive to finish school is being disrupted by the the ineptness of the state should be too! Not surprisingly, many people close to me tell me that I should “chill out,” “relax,” or “stop worrying about what I can’t control.”  Maybe they’re right. Maybe I shouldn’t get so worked up about what’s going on. On the other hand, this is 2009, not 1953! With our increasing dependence on advanced technology, the growth of the global trading market, and a worldwide recession that essentially has reduced the U.S. economy to a trickle, education is as important now as it ever has been. To be honest, I think I would be nuts not to care about it. I and thousands of other students are now in gradation limbo, and we should care! Cal Grants are creeping toward extinction as the state government continues to cut other public programs like CalWorks, a trend that seriously will affect everyone statewide.
Now that education is being beaten and broken down piece by piece, what does our generation have to look forward to? With job prospects for recent graduates looking increasingly desolate, the situation more than likely will become more dire. What about adults who have lost their jobs and have returned to school, feverishly trying to do what they can to find a job that will help them pay their bills and support their kids? Would the state government step away from the cuts if their welfare was on the line as well? Maybe so, but then again, maybe not. . . not if the state needs the money as much as the current reports are telling us.