California Community Colleges System

The community college system in the state of California has a unique governing structure that practice shared governance (California Community College, 2016). There are17 board members that are appointed by the state’s governor. The board of governor has the legislative authority to establish and implement policies for the institution. Members of the Board of Governors are required to meets 11 times per year. The Board of Governors appoints the Chancellor of the Community College. On May 16, 2016, Erik E. Skinner was appointed as the interim Chancellor for (CCC). The primary role of the Chancellor is to supervise and coordinates the efforts of the following divisions: Academic Affairs; Student Services and Special Programs; Economic…

You have applied for admission in a community college. You got the admission in that college. You have met the counselor and planned everything that you need for your major. But when you try to register for the classes, are you able to register for all the classes that you need? What if you don’t get the classes that you need for your major, because they were full? So what are you going to do if this is happening to you every semester? You don’t have to worry about that anymore-I have all the…

I am one of them. Santa Monica College was my first stop after high-school, almost 20 years ago. Growing up it seemed that I was always marginalized. I was the “darker skinned kid” who didn’t speak English and whose parents had funny accents. I recall being 7 years old and being cornered by a bunch of kids my age, and being told that my skin color was not liked by “God”. I realized early on that I was different. This difference, for an immigrant, is a hard pill to swallow. My high school…

Individual Analysis: ACCJC Background Reviewing recent reports surrounding the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) reveals that there are many issues that have been proposed in regard to the efficiency and efficacy of their accreditation processes (CITE). For this reason, many feel that the ACCJC is not meeting their obligation to maintain institutional quality. In the following sections, I will discuss what issues specifically the ACCJC is having in terms of…

Having free community college encourages high school graduates to pursue a higher education. Tuitions and fees for four-year institutions have increased by 3.4 percent each year from 2005 and 2015 (Morris). The increasing cost of tuition for four-year universities turns away students from automatically going to a university, thus leading them to go to a community college instead. However, they still run into some financial troubles there. Students are most likely to apply for a community college…

The peer-reviewed article I chose to read about was “Fake It ‘til You Make It”: Why Community College Students’ Aspirations “Hold Steady,” written by Kelly Nielsen. The article focuses on people who come from low-income families and are also in the lower class of society and how their aspirations of attending a four-year university might change while attending a community college. The purpose of this research is to find out the reasons why people’s aspirations of attending a four-year university…

Prior to starting my program in educational counseling, I strongly believed that I wanted to work in a four year setting. However, when I took ‘Group Counseling’ and met Dr. Mosqueda, she slowly convinced me to seek out the community colleges. As the class progressed, she mentioned the opportunity of doing hours at El Camino College, in particular the First Year Experience (FYE) program, so I decided to take the offer. This preface is important because it gives a glimpse into my constant…

Ever since I was a little kid, I always heard my parents talk about how they needed to start saving for my college. That seemed unimportant to me because I knew that I wouldn’t start college for many years. Both of my parents went to college without having a large financial backing so the concept of saving for college never seemed relevant to me. When I was a little bit older, I began to understand why it was important to start saving money. My uncle, who became an optometrist, had many…

In their articles, “Two Years Are Better Than Four” and “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Liz Addison and Charles Murray discuss how colleges now are much different than colleges in the past. The college experience has changed since people, such as Rick Perlstein, went to college. Even though the college experience is ever evolving, it can still be a very important part of someone’s life. Even if it is not at a “four-year brick-and-mortar residential college” (Murray 229) like many parents…

College education should be free to benefit the lives of everyone. In the past, several political figures have supported free college education. These political figures include Rutherford B. Hayes, John Adams and the candidate for the democratic nomination of the presidential election of 2016, Bernie Sanders. These political officials acknowledged the issue of having to rely on loans to pay for college education. College education should be free to give young adults more opportunities to pursue…