It is already difficult to graduate from college these days due to budget cuts making it tough to get required classes. But, unprepared students taking remedial courses in math and English are making it harder—and more expensive—on themselves to graduate within a reasonable time.
More and more students getting accepted into Cal State Long Beach are unprepared for college courses. This forces our university to spend more money on remedial classes for unprepared students. This is making our budget even tighter.
According to the Press-Telegram, 90 percent of freshmen at Long Beach Community College need to take remedial classes. There is still no definitive answer as to why high school students are not graduating prepared but budget cuts and increased classes size in high schools could be a source to the problem.
Still, many of these unprepared students are getting into universities. This is due to programs like Long Beach College Promise, which allows students graduating from local high schools who have met the minimum requirements to gain entry into CSULB. Cal State Fullerton and other CSU’s and UC’s have similar programs.
While promising local students admission into local universities is a fair decision, there should be tighter minimum requirements for students in this program. It would not hurt unprepared students to take classes at LBCC before enrolling at CSULB. It would keep costs down on remedial courses. There are so many other things that our school needs to work into our budget. It is unfair to the majority of CSULB students who are prepared for college courses to have their money go towards re-educating others who could get the same classes at community college.
Also, it would save unprepared students from paying over $3,000 in fees each semester for classes that can be taken for $36 per-unit at a community college.
Doing this will definitely create an influx of students for community colleges. Community colleges like LBCC would make more money off of students, however they would have to hire more faculty members and make sure there is enough space for classes to be held. However, most universities and local community colleges have tight relationships and this problem should not be too hard to fix.
The city is looking to adopt a quick fix to this problem. Of the students who have been promised admission into CSULB, the bottom 10 percent will have to go to LBCC to take their remedial classes before getting into CSULB. This is a step in the right direction to fixing the problem, however some unprepared students will slip through the cracks. Maybe CSULB could create a pass or fail test for students on the Promise Program to help send those who are ready and those who are not to the right place.
Hopefully this problem can be resolved soon so both community colleges and universities can efficiently educate their students, while not breaking the budget. It is unfortunate that students are no longer graduating from high school prepared for college, but this trend needs to be recognized and fixed in order to place students in the right place to ensure their success.
