Spokane Community College admissions page - Note: Summer quarter has not even started

[jtuck004]

Application for Admission
SCC is no longer accepting applications for Summer Quarter 2010. The deadline for applying for admission was May 17, 2010. If you are interested in applying for a quarter after summer 2010, please see the directions for applying on paper below. Web applications will be available again at a later date.

Say what?

I am told all the classes are full. This is the school the truck driver and secretary depend on, the one unemployed adults turn to and have been paying taxes to support. What do they do? Is this budget cuts (so I am told) or poor planning? Isn't this a primary trainer for business? That ain't serving the business community too well either.

We pay taxes to create a public institution, then can't pay to use the services? A person who is willing to confront the loan process or, miraculously, has the $3700 for a year of full time tuition and books can't have access to training which stands a good chance of not landing them a job? (sssshhh...you don't need a two-year degree for a lot of "health care field" jobs, or for using a telephone, or for much of what is called "hospitality work", some of the hotter categories. Are those good where you live?). But I don't think you can sustain the economy you want without a pretty well-distributed level of good-paying jobs.

I was thinking there are a lot of good, regionally accredited nonprofit online schools, and then this showed up:

__________________________________________________________________________
"The country's largest private employer turned heads Thursday when it announced a new program to award employees college credit for jobs such as truck loading and ringing up purchases. Retail giant Wal-Mart is partnering with the online-based American Public University to help Wal-Mart employees earn associates or bachelor's degrees."
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Wal-Marts-College-Program-Sign-of-a-Benevolent-Giant-3869

Note: American public university is a for-profit regionally accredited school (north central, the accreditor for many schools)
http://www.ncahlc.org/component/option,com_directory/Itemid,184/ (put "public university" in the Search box) (about $12000 for an MBA when you have an accredited bachelors).
+
"Workers could earn as much as 45 percent of the credits needed for an associate or bachelor's degree while on the job."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/06/wal-mart_university.html

What credit could a Walmart greeter get? Pubic relations? Hospitality? And APU gets students that have to pay to complete a degree. Did not see any labor studies on the list.

Win - win, for someone.
_____________________________________________

Well, it ought to help the for-profit school enonomy...

[leftstreet]

1. Walmart Greeter, Ph.D

Unbelievable

So many young people are being herded into the ITT Tech $6 gazillion dollar loan schools.

Working Poor = Revenue Stream

[enlightenment]

2. You know, there are physical limits to how many students can

be taught. Walls don't magically expand to accommodate more bodies; tables and chairs don't magically appear from the sky. Instructors don't teach 24/7, either - and in a down economy, one of the first places states look is at higher education - which means fewer instructors hired (community colleges, on average, have a very large percentage of adjunct faculty who work semester to semester for crap wages. I know. I am one). Fewer instructors mean fewer course offerings - and since those walls won't expand, that means classes fill up and leave students out in the cold.

Some classes can be increased in size - straight lecture courses - but any course that requires any sort of hands-on or time-intensive training (a lab, speech class, art, drama, truck driving, culinary) is limited both by available equipment and the need to make sure that each student is actually learning what they've paid to learn. Even lecture courses have to be limited . . . do you know how long it takes to read and grade 35 or 40 essays, book reviews, research papers, and tests?

I do understand how frustrating it is - it is frustrating for the academics who teach those classes you can't get into, too.

[kiva]

3. This scene is playing out at many state colleges.

At my community college in Nevada, we're taking some whopping budget cuts and it does affect how many classes, and how many sections of each class are offered. We've made the commitment to keep our classes as small as is reasonably possible, so yes, many of our classes fill the first day enrollment is available. Do any of us like it? No.

We are often faced with students who insist that there are empty chairs, so why can't they be added to class? Yes, there are often empty chairs - maybe some students had problems the first day or two of class, maybe they are out of town. Maybe some students only signed up to get the financial aid - yes, that happens. Maybe they only signed up for classes so that they can remain on their parents' insurance - hopefully this will stop after the changes made this fall, but no guarantees.

In short, we're faced with dwindling dollars, an uncertain "show-up" rate for classes, and a growing demand from unemployed people who want to get job training. The only solution is for states to increase the funding for higher education, and in this economy a snowball in hell is more likely.

[TwixVoy]

4. I posted months ago about the fact many "colleges" are turning in to scams

I posted months ago about the fact many "colleges" are turning in to scams.

Let's be honest - they are selling desperate people the lie that ANY "degree" is going to guarantee them a better future.... all they need to do is take out a 30K student loan and send them the check.

Take one of the local "colleges" here.... they have a radio ad going in which they claim "many" of the students go on from retail/food service jobs to making 70K a year instantly after getting an associate of arts from their school. Apparently people are dumb enough to fall for this.

This just further demonstrates what a joke even higher education is becoming. Now you can get your masters degree in cashiering.

I wish I could visit the Wal-mart break rooms around the country. I can picture it now.... motivational posters along the lines of "Another great benefit of working for Wal-mart. Get your PhD in advanced inventory logistics after spending 8 years stocking shelves!"

[upi402]

5. I've seen this happen in previous recessions

You'd think there would be predictive logistics planning by the fattened administration. But no.

Until NAFTA and GATT are undone it's all a facade anyway. Until corporations are no longer given personhood rights, we will be their serfs. Until we're bled pale, the charade will continue.

All hail the Uniparty.