The reality of CA budget cuts?

State Forums
21

<p>RS- I never thought of the 2 CC route, can a student be enrolled in two at one time? </p>

<p>I was also wondering about on line courses, how do these compare to “real” classes? Do you really learn as much? My son who is at a private university has a few hybrid courses, they meet once a week in person and then the other work is online, he really likes that format.</p>

<p>Tyrp-Understand your situation, when I was in law school many moons ago, the kids who took time off between college and graduate school tended to do much better and appreciate the education…I wish I would have waited but in thi job market…I don’t know!</p>

22

<p>I fine it absolutely ■■■■■■■■ when I hear ccc advertisements on the radio stating people can get financial “sometimes even for rent.” ccc’s are impacted again by budget cost. 36 bucks a unit (26 currently) this upcoming fall semester. Finishing in 2 depends on a person’s major and the school. Math and physics sequence won’t allow a student to pack so many classes in a semester. And my school (LA Harbor College) put me in algebra (first of a 3 course sequence) which I petition to be skipped. Sadly, for some reason they find pleasure in holding students back and I had to do geometry in order to take trig in order to take calculus. (took geometry AND trig in a winter session at LA city college, same ccc district, by petitioning for it).
Registration priority improves as you increase the amount of units you have completed. I’m finishing my first year in ccc and I have priority over students who have been here for 4 years.
If you do decide to go to a ccc, make sure you petition for anything that is petitionable, crash classes the beginning of the semester, pack your schedule with no lower than 13 units, and take courses in summer and winter even if you have to go to another ccc. In other words, fight like hell and have pity for no one. Haha!
The good thing about my ccc is that it is part of LA community college district. In other words, class course titles are very similar or practically the same, registration to same-district colleges are the prioritized in your favor, and more classes are available if your comfortable with the metro.</p>

<p>Sent from my iPod touch using CC
1st year cc student (transfer after 3)
Undecided
3.670 GPA (2.6 hs)
Want to transfer to UCSD aerospace or structural engineering</p>

23

<p>SockherMom,</p>

<p>As DeadSupra states, I guess if the CC’s are in the same district some make it fairly transparent to register across campuses. Unfortunately for my son, the two closest CC’s to us are in different districts. What I don’t know is how easy or hard it is to send transcripts between campuses in different districts. Obviously this is an issue if you are taking sequential classes (pre-reqs) at different schools</p>

24

<p>Online classes are useless. I think there was a csu in nor cal that had students complaining about the rising online classes and the cuts of real prof to student classes.
12 units is too easy. 15 is what you really want. Do the math: 60 units/4 semesters… 15 is whatever as well. If you want priority for next semester, you have to beat the majority of the 12-unit students and the 15-unit students who actually will transfer. Thus 15+ is your goal for the first and maybe second semester.</p>

<p>Sent from my iPod touch using CC
1st year cc student (transfer after 3)
Undecided
3.670 GPA (2.6 hs)
Want to transfer to UCSD aerospace or structural engineering</p>

25

<p>Yes, it is possible to go to two CCs at once. You just have to turn in both transcripts whenever you apply to transfer. Though I’m sure it might be a bit difficult if you are doing different prereqs at different schools. I’d imagine you just have to be really diligent in getting your transcripts in to both CCs on time, so they can recognize the classes you take. If the two CCs are really far from each other, online courses at the further one might be a good idea. I’ve also had friends at UCs and CSUs who take classes at nearby CCs simultaneously, to get more of their lower division done, because the classes at their university are so impacted and full. </p>

<p>I do not agree with DeadSupra about online classes - I’d like to know how many they have actually taken, and specifically why they think they are “useless.” Not to mention, they really aren’t for everyone. Online classes have the same curriculum as “real” on-campus classes; but for me the main difference is that you have to have a serious amount of self-discipline and time management to do well, because you are more or less teaching yourself the material. There is a teacher available for help through email or in-person office hours; some teachers are present very often online, participating in discussions, etc., others are not. If you are someone who has to listen to a lecture or be taught by someone else in order to learn, or can’t organize your time well, don’t take an online class. If you’re good at reading powerpoints and textbook chapters and retaining that information on your own, online classes will be great. Hybrid courses are cool, I personally don’t like that format as I would rather go one way or the other (online or in class, all the time.) But it works for a lot of people. </p>

<p>You definitely learn as much in online classes as long as you put enough time in and use the same study techiques as you would in a regular class. However online classes make it tempting to not study as hard, because you can have your textbook and notes out when taking exams online. So you may just familiarize yourself with material instead of actually retaining and memorizing it like a normal class. But the format is great - most that I’ve taken are set up with one quiz, an assignment, and a class forum discussion per week, plus a few tests and essays throughout. I took over half of my General Ed online (about 33 units, including english, history, cinema, astronomy, nutrition, psychology, polysci), and I aced all the classes (It wasn’t easy! I had to work hard for those grades, just like any other class). They’re not for everyone, but at least try it out and see if it works for you. </p>

<p>I would not ever take more than 15 units unless some of the courses are easy, like speech or art, maybe english. You don’t want to risk getting a bad grade or lowering your GPA because you are trying to pack on so many courses. Take as many as you can where you can still manage your time and do your best. DeadSupra is wrong - you don’t have to get 60 units done in 4 semesters, if you also use the summer semesters and winter intersessions. In that case, you can get 60 units done in 6 semesters plus the 2 winter intersessions if your school offers them.</p>

26

<p>Cosumnes River College is part of the Los Rios Community College District and also includes the other CCCs in the Sacramento Area; American River College, Sacramento City College and Folsom Lake College and my younger son could theoretically register for classes at any of these schools but as a practical matter he can not because he would still have the same terrible low priority time for registration by which time all of these four schools will have their classes and wait lists closed for the courses he needs to take.</p>

<p>My older son is a sophomore at Sac State and has had some difficulty getting the courses he needs/plans to take. He is a Geology major which is not impacted and he should have no trouble getting his upper division courses such as Petrology, Mineralogy and Geophysics. The problem is he has to take a lot of lower division prerequisites that Engineering, Pre-med and Biology majors also have to take such as Calculus, Physics and Chemistry. This is where the real bottleneck is, since Engineering, Biology and Pre-med are very popular popular majors any courses they are required to take are going to be difficult to get. He has already been able to finish Calculus I and Calculus II and is currently taking Calculus III. Although it is not required for Geology majors for a Bachelors degree he also plans on taking Differential Equations and two upper division Math courses for physical science majors. He did have a problem in Fall 2010 in getting the First semester of the three semester sequence in Calculus based Physics for physical science and engineering majors. He had been first on the waiting list all summer but the waiting list got deleted somehow and when they put together a new one he had dropped to number 50. I was furious but could not do anything about it so he had to wait until this semester to take the course which he got into with no problems. So he basically got Calculus done without much difficulty but still has two more lower division Physics courses to take which may be hard to get and two semesters of General Chemistry which could prove very hard to get into since not only Engineering students have to take them but so do Biology majors. As Geology and Physics majors, two disciplines that few people have any interest in and only take lower division courses in to meet a prerequisite, my two sons should have pretty clear sailing after they get through the lower division courses in Calculus, Physics and Chemistry that are already hard to get into and will only get more difficult as budget cuts really begin to bite. </p>

<p>It looks like the only way to get a BA or BS in a timely fashion is to be accepted into a UC as a freshman. I am almost resigned to the fact that getting a degree at a CSU or starting at a CCC and then transferring to a UC or CSU is going to take five to seven years to graduation.</p>

27

<p>Sockhermom, I don’t know if you’ve already said this - but does your daughter know what she plans on majoring in?</p>

28

<p>True, online classes are fine when a student lives far from school and is self-disciplined. But if you could choose, wouldn’t you want the regular class?</p>

<p>And you should NEVER be dependent on summer and winter courses. I’ve seen people had registration fees reimbursed because the school completely shut down the winter session and summer semester last minute. It’s hard enough trying to fight for a fall/spring class that you HAVE to take that semester. As an engineer major, I have always taken summer and winter. Two weeks after my hs graduation, I started summer semester with an art and film class to complete igetc.</p>

<p>Sent from my iPod touch using CC
1st year cc student (transfer after 3)
Undecided
3.670 GPA (2.6 hs)
Want to transfer to UCSD aerospace or structural engineering</p>

29

<p>Well, I suppose that all depends on what school you go to. Never have I seen my community college or any others nearby shut down the summer semester at the last minute. </p>

<p>There have been many instances where I’d rather take an online class than a regular class. For example - I’d rather take an online class than a class that requires a lot of in-class essays. Also, classes that I know I won’t like or will be difficult as far as lots of memorization and studying (PolySci and History, for example), I usually prefer to take online. Like I said, it’s a personal preference. But you shouldn’t make it sound like on-campus classes are better - they’re not. It all depends on the teacher and the structure of the course. I’ve taken quite a few on-campus academic classes where I didn’t learn anything and were a complete waste of time.</p>

30

<p>Trypster She is interested in Business-Marketing</p>

31

<p>That’s definitely one of the most impacted/popular majors at most if not all CSUs and UCs. It will be difficult to finish in 4 years, but possible if she is really diligent, crashes classes, and loads up on summer school courses. If she is still in high school, I’d consider taking some community college courses now, to get some out of the way, especially any prereqs.</p>

32

<p>Be careful with online classes. We are finding some private schools are not accepting online courses from CC’s in certain subjects.</p>

33

<p>It is best to check with the school you want the online course credit to transfer to before signing up for the class. My younger son will probably be starting his freshman year at CSU Sacramento in the Fall. He is a Physics major so I would like him to have Calculus 1 completed by then so he can immediately start taking Calculus based Physics. Since I do not think he will be able to get into the class at a CCC this summer I found an online course offered by the UC Berkeley extension, Math X1A that is exactly the same as Math 1A offered on the Berkeley campus and according to the catalogue is accepted for degree credit by all UCs but it said nothing about CSUs. I sent an email with a link to the course site to the Math Department at Sac State and asked if my son would receive credit for Math 30 which is Calculus 1 at Sac State if he finished the course during the summer. </p>

<p>They replied since both UC Berkeley and Sac State are on the semester system and that the same textbook is used for Math 1A at Berkeley as Math 30 at Sac State and the courses both cover the same chapters they would accept it. I am keeping a copy of the email from Sac State’s Chairman of the Math Department approving the Berkeley online extension class as an acceptable substitute for Math 30 in case any questions arise later. </p>

<p>This case was fairly unusual since Calculus 1 at UC Berkeley and Sac State use the same text and cover the same chapters. If the online courses use different texts from the ones used by the school you want the credit to transfer to, definitely get it in writing from the school you are going to that it considers the online courses to be equivalent to their course and that they will accept it for degree credit before taking the course.</p>

34

<p>She has been taking on-line courses from CSUDH–the course descriptions indicated the transferability of the classes. Am I correct to assume that a class taken at one CSU will be fully transferable to another CSU campus–for general ed purposes?</p>

35

<p>SockherMom,</p>

<p>Have you poked around assist.org to look at articulation agreements between CSU’s? Your answers may be there.</p>

36

<p>I just found this site yesterday, it is really confusing! From what I found, I think (and I say think because I am not really sure) that any courses taken at one CSU are fully transferable to another CSU to fulfill GE requirements in the same catagory. She will have completed 10 credits in Humanaties at CSUDH and will transfer as the same to SFSU.</p>

37

<p>My son is in high school and wasn’t interested in the Spanish and French offered at our high school, so he started German at our local community college. Now, I know this is just one class with one CC, but last fall there were 5 possible times/days. This Fall there are only 2. For German 102 there is one option of 6-8 T/Th and one TBD time/day. There were 3 options last year. </p>

<p>If this is the trend, the idea of being able to go to CC and getting done in 2 years is a tough one. The idea of going to a CC and being able to work is another tough one…if you have to camp out to get into classes or need to be available to go to classes literally any time of day or night, you’re not going to be able to hold down a job and go to school.</p>