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First year of community college to be free in California

Nelo Ice

Banned
http://www.latimes.com/politics/ess...lifornia-on-path-to-1507933730-htmlstory.html

A push to make California community colleges more enticing to first-year students was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday.

The proposal, AB 19 by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), lays the groundwork to waive the fees for the first year of community college for all first-time students. It's an incentive that would draw in new students who wouldn’t otherwise enroll, Santiago said.

The new law is contingent on securing funds in next year’s budget to fully roll out the promise of a free first year.
 

Laekon

Member
I recently went back to school and was really impressed with the quality of the professors and the community college I took some pre-reqs at. It is already really cheap and there are a lot of programs to help people out. I will say it can be really hard for people to get into some classes such as anatomy and physiology because of the demand though.

You can become an RN with 3 (hard)years at a community college and if you are lucky, get a job in a hospital with a starting salary of about $75K a year. Its a lot more if you work in the Bay Area. Debt would be around $15k.
 

Gunblade47

Neo Member
Very good news to hear states starting this.

Could help a lot with kids discovering they dont want to be in the field theyre studying or simply that they dont need a qualification (unfortunately rare).

In my first year of software development most people dropped out because they couldnt keep up. They all have around $11,000 debt because of it which is huge if you're only working for around $700pm (This is not the US).
 

HooYaH

Member
Very good news to hear states starting this.

Could help a lot with kids discovering they dont want to be in the field theyre studying or simply that they dont need a qualification (unfortunately rare).

In my first year of software development most people dropped out because they couldnt keep up. They all have around $11,000 debt because of it which is huge if you're only working for around $700pm (This is not the US).

In the US, usually, students have to take their General Education classes (the basics: English, Math, Science, etc...) before even venturing toward their major especially community colleges.
 

Gunblade47

Neo Member
In the US, usually, students have to take their General Education classes (the basics: English, Math, Science, etc...) before even venturing toward their major especially community colleges.

That's very interesting to know. We had something similar where I studied but it was purely for the students that didn't meet the requirements of their course in high school. For example not taking high grade maths but then wanting to study software development.

Are those classes all year or is it for a few months before you move on to your actual courses like a kind of probation period?
 

FyreWulff

Member
Reminder that college used to be free or extremely reduced in most states until Republicans clawed away that access. California used to have free/massively reduced college until the 1970s.
 
That's very interesting to know. We had something similar where I studied but it was purely for the students that didn't meet the requirements of their course in high school. For example not taking high grade maths but then wanting to study software development.

Are those classes all year or is it for a few months before you move on to your actual courses like a kind of probation period?
Usually for a semester or two . Some you can test out of depending on your major . A lot of majors also require a foreign language which can be taken care of at community college . There are also classes to bring incoming students up to speed if they're behind , sort of like the probation period you alluded too. Those classes are required if your tests stink and the credits don't go toward your degree . Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but pretty sure that's how it all works .
 

AcridMeat

Banned
This is an awesome start.
People don't go to community college to get "the best jobs",they go to get a good job.
I went to transfer to a university I couldn't have gone to otherwise.

Community College allows you to meet people of all types of backgrounds/stages of life which is hugely beneficial just from a life standpoint. Vastly preferred it to the first two years of dorm experience most of my friends had.
 
That's very interesting to know. We had something similar where I studied but it was purely for the students that didn't meet the requirements of their course in high school. For example not taking high grade maths but then wanting to study software development.

Are those classes all year or is it for a few months before you move on to your actual courses like a kind of probation period?
Usually classes are around 4 months long.

My first year was a lot of gen eds, but I was also taking my first major course.

It's not probationary. I have a friend who will finish all his major courses next semester but can't graduate until he finishes his gen eds.

I'm kind of in a similar boat. I've been taking my major courses for the past 2.5 years, but I still have to take 2 gen Ed courses before I graduate.

At my university, they have certain requirements like take 10 credits of social science courses (history, psychology, etc.), take 12 credits of science courses, etc. (Most classes are 3 credits.). There's a good variety of options like it allows you (or sometimes requires) to take language courses and music courses, etc. Usually gen eds are the first year and a half of courses.
 

Gunblade47

Neo Member
Usually for a semester or two . Some you can test out of depending on your major . A lot of majors also require a foreign language which can be taken care of at community college . There are also classes to bring incoming students up to speed if they're behind , sort of like the probation period you alluded too. Those classes are required if your tests stink and the credits don't go toward your degree . Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but pretty sure that's how it all works .


Usually classes are around 4 months long.

My first year was a lot of gen eds, but I was also taking my first major course.

It's not probationary. I have a friend who will finish all his major courses next semester but can't graduate until he finishes his gen eds.

I'm kind of in a similar boat. I've been taking my major courses for the past 2.5 years, but I still have to take 2 gen Ed courses before I graduate.

At my university, they have certain requirements like take 10 credits of social science courses (history, psychology, etc.), take 12 credits of science courses, etc. (Most classes are 3 credits.). There's a good variety of options like it allows you (or sometimes requires) to take language courses and music courses, etc. Usually gen eds are the first year and a half of courses.

Wow it's completely different from ours then. Thank you both very much for the info!

Here's hoping this catches on in other states and starts including more years.
 
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