[Editor’s Note: As intensely controversial Dr. Mark Rocha starts his fourth unpopular year as President of Pasadena City College after manipulating the semester system to the displeasure of many students, a suffering military veteran writes a painful letter. Next Tuesday at 12 noon in front of C Building, there will be a protest rally. It's about the general mismanagement and all the confusion happening at PCC, PCC's changes to financial aid, winter cancellation and its effects on students, in particular vets and transfer students.]
Dateline Pasadena – Veterans receive a monthly Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH). There are several breakdowns and stipulations that depict how much the veteran will receive for BAH.
Pasadena City College also has multiple types of GI bills being used. However, most run off the same BAH format.
[img]1769|right|Dr. Mark Rocha||no_popup[/img]The Basic Allowance for Housing is issued after the completion of that month, so you are always a month behind. For example, I will start school in August but do not get paid for it until September. The BAH check I'll get in September will be based off the hours I was in school (not a full month’s pay of BAH because I only will be in school for a few days).
The problem with the new calendar is the time off between semesters. In January I only will be getting paid for the few days I was in school in December.
In February, I only will get paid for half the month of January, and then finally in March I will get a full payment of BAH. Most the vets who have kids are working during finals to make up for that next check.
So much for student success! Right after Christmas, I get a $500 check. The following month I get half a paycheck. Did I mention that one out of every four vets has PTSD?
Finding a temp job during the semester, worrying about my mental health, paying my bills on time, plus school. Priceless!
Before the change was made to the calendar at the beginning of every semester, veterans were always getting a small check, and then the next month it was a full month’s worth of Basic Allowance for Housing. We are not even going to get full BAH for two months. If you add it all up, I'm only going to get about $850 a month for January and February. Thank God my favorite park bench is still there, because my landlord is going to kick me out at the end of February. Why? For being two months late on rent.
The school's response is to plan ahead.
But if I have bills and can't get a job, what do I do? Most drop out completely to find full time work. Due to the stress, Pasadena City College scared them away from college. They had to pick: school or food? Hmm…
I don't stay up every night wondering what brother or sister is dying in the Middle East or off the coast of Africa anymore.
Now I stay up every night wondering what friend doesn't have a home or food. Why haven't I seen my brother or sister at school this year? The Veterans Affairs office in the W Building is there to make sure we are okay. But their office hours aren't long enough to help with everyone's suffering. They would be there all day everyday for the first two months of every semester if he/she helped everyone.
Every semester I talk to vets who become homeless or foodless because their paper work was messed up by (vice president) Dr. (Robert) Bell's staff, or in some cases it was the vet’s fault.
Extended spring was a like a regular semester on steroids when it came to veteran suffrage. Almost 200 vets didn't even get certified until the last week of the extended spring semester in May. If a vet doesn't get certified in time, during January of next year, that vet may have to go even longer than two months without a full Basic Allowance for Housing payment.
If my logic serves me right, PCC is going to have more than just a handful of homeless, foodless, mentally stressed vets on their greedy hands. Someone who makes $20,000 a month, like President Rocha, can’t possibly know what this means.
And the Board of Trustees is so far removed, they don’t listen to students or faculty. It is like we’re talking to a wall.
This is a onesided system. The Board needs to place people in charge who know how to do their jobs at PCC.
Frankly, I don’t think the Board is doing its job, either! I have already decided I'm going to go on a hunger strike outside the C Building if another vet is struck down by PCC. I want my brothers and sisters taken care of, especially those mentally or physically scarred by protecting us.
PCC isn’t doing a good job of protecting us now because of the mismanagement in the administration. I swore an oath to protect this country from enemies foreign or domestic; I only want to seek justice for my country.
