Taylor Darcy.com

Most people don’t know that CSUSM’s official full-time status is significantly lower than the financial aid status that is considered full-time. Accord to CSUSM full-time is anything over 6 units, however the required units for full-time for financial aid and many insurance companies is 12 units. So the fact that CSUSM has limited once again students to only 13 units is no coincidence. They make no additional money off of students if they take more than 12 units. Financial aid and any aid from the state and or federal government does not increase if you take more than 12 units. So what we have here is they make more money per unit if they require a cap, and the student is required to stay even longer and thus they make even more money off the students and governments. The institution is only looking out for themselves, which to some degree I understand however it is the hypocrisy of preaching and teaching social justice and then to deny it to those who are providing the very jobs that they have that I find so vile!  They say that the 13 unit cap is to allow more students access to the university, but if they truly believed that they wouldn’t set such a low limit. 15 units is what is required to graduate in 4 years.  They usually lift the limit which reinforces the point that this is all about the money.  It allows them to report to the state that enrollment is higher than it is in actuality.  The unit limitation serves no purpose.

So in addition to the aforementioned limitations they make the faculty and staff take furlough days, what I failed to mention previously is that they keep increasing fees. If I remember correctly tuition for this past year was somewhere in the range of $1800.00, well next year the fees have increased to over $2400.00! That is a 25% increase for less education. They have sold us a defective product; in other situations we would request a refund or take our money somewhere else however where else are we to turn for higher education? Private universities are more expensive, the UC school system is just as bad off (if not worse than) the CSU system. The only way that we can take a stand is if there was a mass exodus from the school system.

If everyone were to not enroll in classes, the school system would come screeching to a halt. Everyone involved would be out of a job and they would see how dependent they are on students and that they can’t treat us this way. I know that this won’t happen, but this would give the bourgeois something to think about. It won’t happen because there is always someone willing to cross the line. If a line were to be drawn certainly some people would cross it. This is evidenced by those individuals who cross picket lines when there is a strike. In the end most people are going to look out for themselves when it comes to their income, education, and general well-being. It is human nature and I don’t fault them for it, but because of this inherent self-interest a mass exodus would be futile at best and harmful to those participating at worst.

On a different although equally related topic, parking at CSUSM is absurd. The semester pass is $300 (which if you have kept track that means we are paying $2700 each semester). Now as if this isn’t bad enough if you aren’t able to afford to purchase the extremely expensive semester pass you have to purchase a limited use day pass. They charge $3 for an hour, $6 for 3 hours, $7 for 5 hours, and $9 for the entire day. You may ask why this is important, because most classes are between 1 hour and 15 minutes and 2 hours. Do you see a price for 2 hours? Yeah neither do I. So what ends up happening is that students are required to purchase a pass that is more expensive than what they need, because if they don’t and are found not having a permit they then are ticketed at a much steeper rate than if they had paid the initial parking permit.

Many people have dismissed students and the injustices they experience; my favorite dismissal is the fact that last semester when I sold back a book to the book store. I said something to the effect that it was highway robbery that I would have to pay $100+ for a book only to be able to sell it back for $20 or less. The clerk dismissed me with the phrase, “at least you get to sell it back.” Of course I could sell my book somewhere else but when you are broke and need the money you do what you have to, to get by. The irony is that after you have sold the book back to the book store they then will turn around and sell the exact same book for $40-$60 dollars to another student, thereby making a fairly decent size profit.

On the same note I find it highly suspect that they have to change book editions so frequently, especially in the case of math and other non-frequently changing subjects. Seriously, how often does a new theory in math come along? It isn’t like we wouldn’t have heard about that on the news. I am sure that if anything were to be established at the base levels we would hear about it. So what is the need for a new edition every couple of years? The simple answer is there is no reason and the publishers and colleges release new editions and require new editions respectively to make additional money. Certainly I can understand updated books for topics that change frequently, i.e. technology, history, politics, etc. But most subject need very little changes and a simple semi-colon, period, or grammatical error is an unacceptable reason to discontinue the use of an edition and require that students who are already poor purchase a “new” edition for minor changes.

The institution creates a situation of depravity that it perpetuates by selling the “higher” education rhetoric. In the meantime most students leave their undergraduate work with significant amounts of debt because few have the resources available to them to finance an education without going into debt to the government or other financial institutions. Each semester the cost of books are increasing despite the fact that many electronic or e-books are available and cost significantly less than the paper books. Seriously, who has the means to pay $400+ a semester for books, in addition to tuition, parking, etc.? So far the cost of getting an “education” is well over $3000.00 a semester which is only 16 weeks. That doesn’t include all the living expenses and other requirements to get a degree. The question that has yet to be answered and I am afraid won’t be answered any time soon is, is it all worth it? Does the cost of an education actually yield the benefits that it promises? I fear the answer at points, because if it is what I fear it is, it means that I have or will have wasted significant amounts of time to obtain something that has cost me far more than money.

Again, don’t misunderstand my intent with these posts, it is not to degrade or debase the education that I have received. It is however to call into question the bureaucracy that is the educational institution. I have learned so much attending school, and I am truly a better person for attending. The system itself is broken and I would love to be the person that works to help fix it. At this moment I do not have a solution to the problem, however if given the proper resources I am positive that I could come up with a better more equitable higher education experience for not only the students and parents but also the faculty and administrators. You would think that the government would care significantly more about how their financial aid is being spent, yet there seems to be very little oversight as to how the federal money that has been allocated to the schools is being used. Perhaps with as much red-tape as there is in the government, money for financial aid to schools is an issue that has fallen through the cracks. Besides it isn’t as though many people are screaming very loudly. Too many other issues seem to be priorities that take precedent over higher education. The irony is that if they were to fix the educational system other problems would be taken care of, because we would then have the resources (i.e. educated individuals) to solve these problems. Granted other unintended consequences would happen, but I would propose that these would be more manageable than the current system.

I enjoy learning immensely and I truly love to attend school. It by far has been the best time of my life. I see the world in a whole new light and a whole new way. My mind has been opened to a greater and deeper understanding of things and I see things more clearly than I ever thought possible. The knowledge I have obtained has been invaluable but the system has got to be changed!

Related posts:

1. California State University – San Marcos 13 Unit Limitation Apparently California State University – San Marcos is no longer...
2. Seriously, racial epithets at CSUSM in the bathroom? This afternoon I received an email from the President of...
3. It isn’t Fair This phrase is often heard from a child yelling at...
4. Raising your voice to be heard In light of all that is going on in the...
5. A little Christmas Miracle I wanted to share a little Christmas miracle that happened...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.