Grow and go.

It’s a phrase that is being used by many faculty members and administrators at Bakersfield College.

They want us students, as they should, to do our two years here and move on, which, in a perfect world, would be the case for everyone. There is one problem with this: it’s not a perfect world, and our school is not an exception. Classes are being cut across the board, tuition is being raised (call it fees if you want, the students think of it as tuition) and we’re all going to school in beat-up buildings that are waiting for repairs, yet we are being told that we should all finish in two years.Paying more for less.

That’s what we are being asked to do as students at BC, to achieve more with less, and now we’re being told that we need to hurry things up and that we’re not working hard enough.

Sounds like a bit of a mixed message.

We understand that these projects take a while to push through, especially when it’s funded with money from the state. There are a lot of students that don’t have the help of their parents either, including students that work full-time jobs and support themselves.

And now some officials are blaming certain budget issues on the fact that more students are using the Board of Governor’s Waiver, but the fee for one unit has gone up $20 in two years.

Raise the prices, take away aid, and then urge us to hurry up and get the hell out?

Some of us are here for more than just to transfer. A lot of students have gotten their certificate, or even their Associate’s in something, yet they still have so much to learn out of classes.

A journalism student will learn the brunt of his knowledge on this newspaper at BC, and some need more than the required two semesters to polish their skills before being ready to take on a four-year university’s version. We understand you want us to get our degree done and move on. We all want to achieve that. We don’t need some administrator reminding us.

The school’s administration should be focused on giving the students the best environment to succeed, and telling us to just hurry up and get out when classes are diminishing and waitlists are filled isn’t helping.