Community college students across the state are jumping for joy. On Sept. 29, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ratified Senate Bill 1440, which guarantees all California community college graduates admission into a CSU.Though ensuring more Californians have bachelor’s degrees might be the prescription the California economy needs, we have to be careful of the hidden side effects the bill may present.
Right now, the state of our economy is on everyone’s mind — and rightfully so. With the Golden State over $43.5 billion in debt, it’s long been time for a statewide financial makeover.
Before Schwarzenegger signed SB 1440, community college students were taking on average of 20 credits more than the associate degree requirements due to inconsistent and constantly changing transfer requirements. Cutting the number of units a student needs to transfer will save both the student and the state money. In fact, merely streamlining the arduous transfer process will lead to nearly $160 million dollars in savings.
With the new bill, as long as California community college students have junior standing, they will be awarded with an associate degree and guaranteed admission into a CSU. According to the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy, currently, 73 percent of California college students go to a community college, yet only 22.7 percent who aspire towards transferring to a four-year public university actually achieve their goal.
This measure will grant 55,000 more community college students a year a shot at a bachelor’s degree. And that’s good news, because if just 1 percent of Californians in community colleges earn a bachelor’s, our economy would grow by $20 billion, state and local tax revenue would increase by $1.2 billion a year and 174,000 new jobs would be created.
But despite the economic benefits of SB 1440, we can’t forget that the CSU system is bursting at the seams with over 450,000 students crowded into the system. Last year, for the first time in 48 years, the CSU system put a cap on its enrollment, denying 10,000 students admission.
The CSU system was forced to cap their admissions due to a lack of state funding, and if we add more students to the system without adding more funds it’ll only be a recipe for disaster. According to California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott, the bill will directly save California $150-$200 million a year. However, if the revenue from the bill doesn’t go back into the CSU system, the CSU system be faced with an additional 55,000 students they simply cannot afford to educate.
While SB 1440 was signed with good intentions, if we can’t follow through, both the students and the CSUs will be in a worse place than they started.
The CSU system will have to cut more classes and students will be short-changed with a lower quality education.
Neither the CSU system nor the students will benefit from this bill if we don’t see the dream all the way to the end.
Currently, UC officials are discussing creating a similar program for the UC system, but they’re delaying anything official and for good reason. If the CSU system is unable to accommodate the additional students, it’s reasonable to assume that the other state-funded higher education system won’t be able to accommodate the overflow either.
Who doesn’t want this new bill to work? In an ideal world, the additional revenue from the bill will be put back into the CSU system and we’ll see a huge increase in state revenue which will allow us to slowly pull both individuals and our state government out of debt.
After all, the goal of the bill is to create a more educated state that benefits everyone.xw
Additional reporting by Margaret Yau.