California State University officials see that closing the doors for enrollment as a solution towards the budget crisis, but by doing so they’re taking away the chance for students to create a better life for themselves. Axing thousands from the opportunity to attend college will not only hurt the future of the economy but the future of education as well.
According to CSU statistical data, 37, 911 students transferred from a community college to a CSU in 2011. This means that a similar number of students in 2013, when the enrollment freeze may occur, will be left in the dust.
The economy will be hurt because these students would be the future of American business. The thousands of students hoping to land positions in these potential jobs may never get the chance now.
President Obama himself marks higher education as one of the primary ways Americans can improve the country.
“No issue will have a bigger impact on the future performance of our economy than education. It will determine whether there’s going to be an abundance of good middle-class jobs in America,” he said.
If this is what the leader of America believes, then why is the education of students in California being halted? Instead, we should be trying our best to get more students into college if education really is a stepping stone towards a better country.
Now, CSU, the largest, most diverse and most affordable university system in the nation, is planning to unjustly turn away thousands of young minds from finishing their education, unless we pass a tax hike. We should now approve this tax increase as it will save the education of our college students.
According to the Department of Academic Initiatives,California’s Master Plan for Education since 1960 has created ways to help unprecedented numbers of students attend college even through “severe budgetary constraints.” So it seems ludicrous to leave the fate of enrollment into a CSU in the hands of voters who may be unaware of the situation, but the truth of the matter is we are left with no other choice.
We will finally have to put things into perspective as more cuts to education will occur if we do not pass this tax initiative. More cuts to school funding will not solve the budget problem either but create more trouble. The reduction of the number classes and faculty at CSUs will inevitably follow an enrollment freeze, especially if more cuts arise.
The pressure to save education should be felt by Californians or we will come to the horrible realization that keeping our sales tax the same is more important than the future of our students.
It’s sad but it has come to this. If the wealthy do not choose to raise the taxes on their income and Californians vote “No” on this proposal, then we will lose thousands of students who will become the future of this economy.
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