Recently, the Gavilan College Board of Trustees made an unjust
decision in charging the fee waiver recipients at the college an
extra $14 health fee after a recommendation by President Steve
Kinsella.
Recently, the Gavilan College Board of Trustees made an unjust decision in charging the fee waiver recipients at the college an extra $14 health fee after a recommendation by President Steve Kinsella.
As the associated student body president and student advocate, I went before the board opposing this extra burden for more than 2,500 Gavilan students. Fees are simply another barrier to education for many students of the college. The average expense for a student who attends Gavilan is $8,890, and financial aid only offers an average of $4,000.
This fee increase takes advantage of the students’ noble cause by having them pay a total of $20 a semester as opposed to only $6. Students who receive a fee waiver are those who are struggling to make ends meet.
This fee could be the last straw for many of them. All the students want is an education, to have a prosperous life and support their families, but now the decline in enrollment will be evident as a result of any fee. To think this charge insignificant is negligent, because history has proven that once a fee is imposed, the likelihood is that it will be raised.
The administration and the district have made it harder for the less fortunate to get that desired education. Something is very wrong with this picture. President Kinsella’s agenda is shining through like gold, or at least his thirst for it is. Money, money, money is the view of the administration, and now that greedy hand will find its way into the student’s pockets once again.
I don’t necessarily blame the board. I showed up to the board meeting with only one student. But that’s because this item was strategically placed onto the agenda for this week, and we students had no time to organize ourselves. That was a harsh move on the president’s part, and I don’t think the board knew about this unfair move.
Do they know that minority students are the ones who will suffer the most? The fact that 95,000 students did not enroll due to the first fee imposed in 1984 was not enough to show that fee increases prove a decline in enrollment. So in 1991 another fee increase was imposed and we lost another 16,000 students. Then in 1993 another fee increase led to a drop of 124,000 students. The cycle is vicious and present at Gavilan College, and the lack of principles and consideration will prevent another large pool of students from obtaining an education. And we let them tell us what is best for us?
I am a student, and I know that an extra fee increase will set a precedence to more fees in the future. Today it is only $20, but what will it be tomorrow? I told them that this was a bad idea, but who cares what the students say? They are only students after all, right? Well if it wasn’t for the students of Gavilan, all the administrators and board members would not serve any purpose.
Those in power do not live in a family of more than five, they are not a minority or of Hispanic background, and they are not representative of the group that will be most affected. Do they struggle to pay their bills because they are too busy studying and cannot work extra hours?
Where are their principles and why do we voters allow the board of trustees to make these kinds of decisions for us? If I was in their place, I would not let myself be dragged into groupthink, because unlike them, I would have opposed this unprincipled decision which sets the precedence for increased fees in the future and betrays the promise of open access and affordable education of the1960s.
It is true that the students appreciate health services, and that community colleges are underfunded, but the funding problem needs to be solved in a different way, not on the backs of the most needy.
Those committed to the community college mission must recognize that although the college needs more money, and just because the legislators priorities have changed, they should not take money from the pockets of the most needy of our community. Instead they should be looking to make an investment in their community rather than putting enrollment deterrents like this health fee and taking the pennies from their pockets.
Guest columnist Betsy Avelar is the Associated Student Body President of Gavilan College. Anyone interested in writing a guest
column may contact Editor Mark Derry at 842-6400.
