Forum Post: What's is wrong with higher education

We are nation need to be more aware of what the Board of Trustees is doing. Check out your local community college's board of trustees minutes. It should be an interesting read. Please make sure officals are following the Brown Act.

One college district I know hasn't been calculating the return of Federal Pell Grant money correctly and they also returned the money late. This same district had an online distance learning program that doesn't work according to its own instructors. Now they are licensing the program to other college.

I really thought community college administrators care about students and making sure they actually accomplish their education goals. I have received a large dose of reality. All they care about is money and helping friends obtain district vendor contracts. District general counsels who make an average of $20,000 a month. The money could be going to pay for extra instructors and more classes.

Districts are signing contracts with book publishers and receiving royalties for helping create textbooks that students are buying. The district receive grant from the book publishers.Online students are having to use the book publisher's website for their course material (homework assignments, texts, quizzes etc.) and have to pay extra fees to access the website. Come on students already pay for the text book, tuition fees, material technology fees and our own expenses. In come cases the book company's websites are overloaded with too many students and don't work. Who is going to take the blame when student's work is lost? The college says it wasn't our system and not our fault. What is going on with the higher education system? These are just a few examples from one college district board meeting minutes I have been studying. No one seems to care about students.

Thank you to the people who have sacrificed for this cause. Californiagirl