By: Alejandro Lara
Students who are ready to move on to the next level of education and have completed all requirements will have to wait until all fees are paid. There is one thing that all East Los Angeles College students look forward to and that moving on from East Los Angeles College. Whether it’s to start an undergraduate program at a California State University, University of California, or private university the possibilities are endless. All that needs to be done as students is pass all your classes, have a good GPA depending on your major, and pay your fees.
There is no worse feeling than making all your preparations to move forward in your education and getting hit with unexpected fees like paying off your current student fees, classes, then paying acceptance fees and orientation fees . As it is the majority of students have jobs while they go to school and need to make money to survive. Having to worry about all of that and then having to pay fees just to be able to attend a school is ridiculous.
There are steps to the application process in attending a university. Some students qualify for grants that pay for application fees, but a majority of students have to pay that out of pocket, and each of those school applications are over $50. On top of that, the next step is to wait to see if you get accepted and if everything goes smoothly you do so what’s next is an acceptance letter with an admissions fee. After students get their acceptance letters, they are hit with hidden fees that one may not be prepared for and can affect enrollment and possible withdrawal from the undergraduate and graduate programs. These fees include the intent to attend the college and orientation fees.
The admission fee for example, is a $100 nonrefundable fee charged by California State University, Los Angeles making students pay this amount before they can attend school there. Then the school asks for transcripts from the current school the student is attending in this case ELAC students. Before students can send their transcripts they have to pay their fees off first. To top it all off, the mandatory student orientation at Cal State LA is $70.
So as a student from ELAC who has aspirations to make something out of his life and follow his dreams where does the school system draw a line and start helping out the people that will shape the future. Schools need to provide more aid students, instead of adding more hurdles like unreasonable fees that make the schools richer and the students more poor.