California's students get into college, but not always out

Justin Pope:

For most of history, higher education has been reserved for a tiny elite.
For a glimpse of a future where college is open to all, visit California — the place that now comes closest to that ideal.

California's community college system is the country's largest, with 109 campuses, 4,600 buildings and a staggering 2.5 million students. It's also cheap. While it's no longer free, anyone can take a class, and at about $500 per term full-time, the price is a fraction of any other state's.

There is no such thing as a typical student. There are high achievers and low ones, taking courses from accounting to welding. There are young and old, degree-seekers and hobbyists — all commingled on some of the most diverse campuses in the country, if not the world.

Many students, for one reason or another, simply missed the onramp to college the first time around — people like 31-year-old Bobbie Burns, juggling work and childcare and gradually collecting credits at San Diego City College in hopes of transferring to a media program at a nearby university.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 23, 2007 12:00 AM
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