Access to quality education is readily available on the west side. The plethora of private and public schools rank high in the state's school ranking system. LA is the home to UCLA and Santa Monica College. Also under our roof is the highly sought after UCLA Lab School and many religion-themed schools. Sadly, the tuition bills are also higher than ever.
The LA Times published an article today about a senate bill that seeks to control some of the UC system's policy on budget handling. This comes after the UC Board of Regents (the governing body of the UC system) increased student fees almost ten percent. While many West LA residents may not have been as affected by the economic hard times we currently face, the bills may add up.
Public schools are seeing a decrease in federal funding and the UC system is inching closer to privatization with each passing day.
As a product of LAUSD and graduate of UCLA, I wholeheartedly support public schools in LA. I also recommend all high school seniors to attend a community college for their first two years and then transfer to a UC or state school. During the first two years, community college students take general education classes and some prepratory classes. The transfer rate out of Santa Monica college is very high and the acceptance rate is much higher than freshmen admittance numbers. It is overall a much smoother transition from k-12 to higher education.
This doesn't only mean less money you may have to fork over to the academic institutions, but even more importantly, the quality of the education your child will be getting is not a significant drop when compared to private schools. I've been counseling high school seniors at my Alma Mater, Birmingham High School, and helping seniors with their personal statements for several years now. If there is one thing I've learned, it is that in the end, a dedicated student is all it takes to make it to an Ivy League.
LA TIMES ARTICLE:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc28-2009may28,0,3431789.story
1 comments:
I guess i went the smart route, thanks for making me feel better. ;)
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