The University of Riverside visited Bakersfield College and other community colleges, in the nation in the spring semester, to make a video documentary about students’ struggles to pay for college.
According to the film, “The Cost of Education,” there are about 16 million university students in the United States and 6.2 million are from community colleges. About 41 percent have a fulltime job, 50 percent are at low income or poverty level, and 75 percent are at risk of dropping out of college. The students who were interviewed had trouble with school because they had children, mental and physical disabilities or were undocumented immigrants.
Some staff members that were interviewed in the documentary were Ken Meier, former BC vice president of student learning and Ash West, BC student body president at the time.
“It’s not about money, its about priorities,” said Meier. Though the majority of the students going to college have a risk of dropping out because of no financial support, Meier believes the students need to have the will to learn. But when students have disabilities or are undocumented, it is very difficult to have the will to learn or not have the money to pay tuition.
According to Scott Hutchings from the Colorado Council and Outreach Programs, “it’s not about the academic failure, it’s because the college does not provide financial support.” The documentary went into detail about how the government could have trouble funding schools. Some students were on their own when it came to the school helping them financially.
Undocumented students cannot get financial aid. Parents usually use up their financial aid for their children, and the disabled have trouble finding a job. According to Karen Ellis from Johnson Community College in North Carolina, “When the economy goes bad, the disabled ones are usually the first ones to get terminated.”
This 14-minute documentary had information about academics and finances. This documentary was written and directed by John Levin and Jeremy Levin and can be viewed at www.education.ucr.edu. For more information, you can email John Levin at [email protected].