By J. Castillo
Once again I find myself a victim of the Pasadena City College administration’s poor planning and communication.
My success as a student is being jeopardized.
The last time was in 2012 when the Board of Trustees abruptly eliminated winter session without proven cause, subsequently extending my two-year completion plan and jeopardizing my success.
Now they have put me at risk to completely drop out of school due to as yet unannounced changes to students’ financial aid – changes that apparently only PCC has undertaken. This seems to be an effort to deter students from studying there.
Since the sudden, unprecedented cancellation of winter intersession, I no longer trust the administration’s competence.
I have had to keep myself as informed as possible to achieve my goals expediently and efficiently.
Through my own initiative and research, I have found out that the qualifications for PCC students to get financial aid have changed. The law states that it will provide financial aid assistance for coursework that totals up to 90 units.
It seems PCC has changed that cap to 78 units. The problem is, I have not received any notice from the school that the requirement has changed. It’s not on the PCC Financial Aid website, either.
When are they planning to let students know?
After their financial aid dries up and our only option is to drop out of school?
Now more than ever, I am more confused and uncertain about my future. Indeed, I had planned to graduate in two years. I budgeted and then quit my job to become a fulltime student for September through June. But with the cancellation of winter and now an added financial burden, I seriously doubt I will leave PCC with an Associate degree or even complete the recommended lower level preparatory courses for transfer to university.
I quit my job last fall and planned to work in the summer. My plans, though, are worthless because the Board of Trustees turned the academic year into a trimester, including a 16-week summer session, which I will either have to attend to continue the pace of my education or work fulltime.
At least with Winter, I could take classes and devote the summer to full-time employment. Many students like myself simply cannot afford to go to school on our budgets without financial assistance. Now we are facing the loss of the financial assistance we had counted on
Many do not know about this yet. I made my study plans based on a calendar that was in place and financial assistance I was guaranteed.
But PCC once again is making unannounced changes. These changes should be planned in advance. Students should be forewarned so that we are able to leave PCC as fast and prepared as possible. The way in which PCC is administered not only concerns me as a student, I also am concerned as a resident of Pasadena and as a local taxpayer.
I feel the administration is pushing me out of PCC unprepared and setting me up to fail. With this latest development, I wonder if the administration is trying recuperate the $800K that they had to pay back students last semester for their Spring 2 fiasco – $800K that comes directly from taxpayers.
I feel that our tax dollars are being poorly spent on the enormous salaries of school administrators who are mismanaging the school (see: “Editorial: Damage Done, Apology Needed” ). That money should go to students. After all, the PCC president, Dr. Mark Rocha, makes almost $20,000 a month. If they are mismanaging the school, maybe they should cut their salaries instead of students’ financial assistance.
J. Castillo may be contacted at jlclaca@gmail.com
