Community College Tuition Increases by 27%

The State School Board voted yesterday to increase community college tuition by 27%!!!

By Stan Diel -- The Birmingham News
October 22, 2009, 9:59AM

MONTGOMERY - The Alabama Board of Education has voted to increase tuition at the state's community colleges 27 percent to help make up for revenue lost to state budget cuts.

For the typical student the change will mean a 15 percent increase -- about $420 -- in the total cost of one year of community college, bringing the year's total bill to $3,120.

I am a community college student and this makes me very unhappy. This is outrageous! I attend Central Alabama Community College in Alex City and the place is falling in. The library building is in such bad shape I am sometimes scared to be in it. The columns out front are cracked and large chunks are falling off. The third floor has huge cracks in the floor from one side of the bldg to the other. When it rains the librarians have to set out buckets to catch the water. The elevator safety certification is out of date by over a year and the elevator is more like a coffin with sliding doors that will often miss matching up to the floor by one or two feet.

The computers and printers often don't work, the temperature fluctuates madly, the bookstore rips off students and the president Dr. Stephen Franks, who was also Mike Huckabee's campaign manager, is non-existent on campus. In fact, most students think the president is female because all they have ever seen outside the President's hidden office is his secretary. The President has never walked the halls and engaged with students. I couldn't pick him out of a line up.

The only nice building on campus is named after AEA water carrier Rep. Betty Carol Graham, who resigned as Dean of Students when the double dipping investigation got hot. She was responsible for a lot of contracts that should have been bid out that were not bid out. Personally, I don't think buildings or anything else should be named after people until they are dead. I'd guess 10% or less of the student body at CACC uses the Betty Carol Graham Technology Center building on a regular basis.

And now we have to pay more for these shit services?

I'd like to ask Bradley Byrne, who was the two year college chancellor and is currently running for Governor, why my school is falling in under his watch. I'd also like to ask Rep. Betty Carol Graham why the only building fit for habitation on campus is the one with her name on it and why exactly the decision was made to build that building (and put her name on it) when the rest of the campus is in such unbelievable disrepair.

This increase comes at a time when the fastest growing segment of the student population is non-traditional students who have been in the workforce for years and have lost their jobs due to the economy. These students have families to support and many of them are supporting their families on the paltry sums they receive in unemployment compensation. We can hardly afford to pay more for the incredibly sub-standard services we are already receiving.

Somebody's got some splainin' to do...and what do you know...election season is almost upon us.

Gov. Riley Doesn't Smell Like Roses

I'm still mad about the 62% pay heist passed by the House and Senate on Tuesday of this week. It really chaps my ass because my representative, Betty Carol Graham, will not return any of my phone calls or emails. In the last four years I have been able to meet with her exactly ONE TIME. And now she is making almost $50,000 a year to sit in her office at CACC (another state job with a nice salary and benefits in the two-year college system)and do things like bring a sewing machine training plant to the college.

YIPPIE!!!! The textile industry is dead in Tallapoosa Co. so a great lot of good that did. I always thought that people went to college so they wouldn't wind up in a sewing plant. Isn't that the whole point of a college education....to avoid being a slave in a factory job? I will be running for Mrs. Grahams seat in 2010. Why, I even promise to return her phone calls and emails if elected.

I keep hearing a lot of things like "Well, bless Gov. Riley for vetoing it" and "At least he tried." In reality, he did not try. The veto was to make him look good to all of us who opposed the pay raise.

The truth of the matter is that when the House and Senate sent the bill to Gov. Riley he could have used the power of his pen to counter the offer. That would have opened negotiations where we might have been able to decrease the outrageous figure, pulled the yearly automatic increase, and quite possibly come to an agreement we could all live with.

But, Gov. Riley didn't use the power of the pen to open negotiations. He simply vetoed the bill, all the while knowing that the house and senate had the votes to over ride his veto. One has to surmise that he did not oppose this increase or he would have used his power to slow it down and alter it.

Everyone who is unhappy about this pay heist should CONTACT the Governor and ask him why he didn't use his power to stall and negoatiate for a more reasonable amount.

Here's the message I sent to the Governor.

Dear Governor Riley,

Thank you for your symbolic veto of the 62% legislative pay heist on Tuesday of this week. I was in attendance at the protest and later watched, in total disgust, as the House eaisly over rode your veto.

I assume you knew all along that the house and senate would have the votes to over ride the veto, so I have to ask why you didn't use the power of your pen to counter their proposal with a much more reasonable one? I don't think many in Alabama would have objected to a reasonable request for a legislative pay raise. After all, if anyone understands the rising cost of gasoline and food it is the citizens who inhabit this state.

But, your simply vetoing it and sending it back without alteration destroyed any chance of lowering the amount and removing the yearly increase. I feel that is a huge disservice to the citizen's of Alabama.

My representative in Tallapoosa Co., Betty Carol Graham, did not deserve a raise. I am unable to get her to return any of my phone calls or emails. In the last four years I have been able to meet with her exactly ONE TIME. And now she is making almost $50,000 a year to sit in her office at CACC (another state job in the two-year college system) and do things like bring a sewing machine training plant to the college.

YIPPIE!!!! I always thought that people went to college so they wouldn't wind up in a sewing plant. Isn't that the whole point of a college education....to avoid being a slave in a factory job?

The textile industry is dead in Tallapoosa Co., so a great lot of good that did.
Do you think she deserved a raise? I think she deserved a pay cut.

Since you aren't running for Governor again my message may not mean very much, but I wanted you to know that I feel you could have done a better job and so do many other Alabamians.

All the best,
Loretta Nall
2006 Libertarian Candidate for Governor