Feb 11 2009
In A Time Of No Money The State Pays For Bowling
Community colleges have an important purpose. They serve adults who need to get immediate job skills, or job training, such as; welding, cosmetic licenses, construction jobs, office assistants, GED, and other associate degrees. They also help students afford college - it is significantly cheaper at $20.00/unit to do your first two years at a community college than a university.
But then there are the bowling classes. I understand that students need a credit of PE and that many students enroll in PE classes to stay fit. But let’s keep those classes on the community college grounds. There are gyms, fields and other athletic facilities on the campus for classes. But instead, the community colleges offer bowling and golf - all of which are done at off-campus sites.
The state pays the community college the same amount of money for a PE credit course that it does for any other 1-credit course. If the state were to not pay for those classes, it could save over $150 million dollars (according to an LAO report). Of course, if the community college stopped offering those courses they could use the same level of funding to offer a course that would teach people job skills.
In a time of no money, why are the communtiy colleges saying they have to cut academic classes when they could cut recreational classes and still offer PE classes on campus?
Additionally, raising the fees to $21.00/unit or even to $25.00/unit would not hit people that hard. It would hit them hard the first semester. If you figure an average student takes 12 units; they are currently paying $300.00 a semester in tuition. Raise that to $360/semester and you get additional income without really making it hard for people to pay for college.
Why not look at common sense alternatives instead of constantly complaining about the state of state funding?
