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the telescope Monday, Jan. 23, 2012
Vol. 65, No. 10
Admin corruption allegations ‘unwarranted’
Palomar College, San Marcos, Calif.
NEW STATE BUDGET TO CUT CAL GRANT AID FUNDING CARLA RIVERA Los Angeles Times
BY THE NUMBERS
made community-college students unable to get the classes they need to transfer. “We think the most likely explanation is a pipeline issue.” Budget cuts led the state’s 112 community colleges to slash thousands of classes over the past two years, leaving students fighting to get the courses needed for graduation. One 18-year-old honors student at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, Calif., was among those whose plans ran aground. Dor Carpel wanted to finish his community college work this winter so he could take a break to work and travel before transferring to UC Berkeley or UCLA. Instead, after finding himself seventh on the waiting list for a required computer-programming course last fall, the Cupertino resident will be spending
A state budget recently proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown could threaten the financial aid of many students number of currently receiving Cal students getting Grants. Cal Grants could beCal Grant aid in come much harder to 2004 obtain for new students under restrictions proposed by Gov. Brown as part of his 2012-13 budget. One of the most going to the contentious parts would students in 2004 increase the minimum grade point average needed to qualify for the two types of awards, which are merit- and number of income-based and are a students getting key part of the financial aid package for many Cal Grant aid in low- and middle-income 2011-12 fiscal year students. “The pie is only so big,” said Laura Gropen, Palomar’s spokeswoman. “You take a little bit going to Cal Grant from one end, you give a students in the little bit to the other.The revenue has not been current fiscal year there in the state to continue funding at the same level that it had been at.” Community college amount saved with officials said they had increasing GPA not yet determined the requirement impact, although many two-year students obtain the lower-level grant awards that are most likely to be affected. “We are serving more proposed GPA students as a whole than jump for Cal we receive funds for,” Gropen said. “That is, Grant ‘A’ students Palomar especially, but California as a whole.” Cal Grant “A” currently covers tuition up to $5,472 at Cal proposed GPA State universities, up to $12,192 at the Univerjump for Cal sity of California and Grant ‘B’ students up to $9,708 toward tuition and fees at private colleges. Cal Grant “B,” for students with lower incomes, provides $1,551 for books, living number of expenses and tuition prospective UC, assistance, typically for CSU and students attending community colleges. community Brown is proposing to college students increase the minimum GPA requirement for affected by the Cal Grant “A” recipients GPA changes from 3.0 to 3.25 and for Cal Grant “B” from 2.0 to 2.75. The requirements for community college transfers to qualify for the grants would jump from 2.4 to 2.75. Brown is also proposing to lower the award amount for students attending private, nonprofit schools to the CSU level, which critics say could dramatically reduce opportunities for low-income students who are accepted to private schools such as USC. If more of these students opted instead for public schools, state expenses could increase because California would pay more to subsidize them.
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177,000
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Andrew Bissell, former ASG president (FILE)
Marilyn Lunde, OSA and ASG secretary (FILE)
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There wasn’t evidence to support that there was real wrongdoing. PALOMAR PRESIDENT ROBERT DEEGAN
Sherry Titus, OSA director and ASG adviser (FILE)
shaun kahmann The Telescope
Serious allegations of administrative misconduct by the Office of Student Affairs were dismissed by the Palomar College Governing Board in their report released on Jan. 12. After the controversial 2009 resignation of former ASG President Andrew Bissell, an attorney was commissioned by the district at a cost of $70,000 to investigate allegations of wrongdoing made by Bissell and other former ASG members against the administration at the time. The report itself, a 70 page compilation of background information and eyewitness testimony, found there to be insufficient evidence to condemn the O.S.A. for any of the allegations made. According to the report, witnesses alleged that the O.S.A. Director at the time, Sherry Titus, actively worked to undermine
the ASG, engaged in frequent dishonesty and attempted sabotage of unfavorable members. Governing board Trustee Mark Evilsizer, said the allegations weren’t based on fact. “All of the allegations were pretty much unsubstantiated and driven by innuendo, hearsay and preconceived notions,” Evilsizer said. As to the allegations of sabotage, the report claimed that there were sufficient facts to conclude that some of the students “may get frustrated when their needs cannot be immediately met” and that some of the students “hope to bypass some of the rules.” When asked if he thought any pro-administration bias could have filtered into
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MORE NON-CALIFORNIANS APPLY TO UC, BUCKING TREND MATT KRUPNICK CONTRA COSTA TIMES
LIFE: Profile on Palomar DJ pg. 4
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Ryan Eshoff, a student at UCLA, attends English professor Blake Allmendinger’s California literature class in Los Angeles, California, on October 3, 2011. (MCT)
SPORTS: Baseball season pre-
OPINION: Athletics deserve
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Bucking a recent trend and thwarting efforts to increase transfers, fewer community-college students than last year have applied to the University of California system for the Fall 2012 term. Nearly 1,800 fewer students applied for transfers to the 10-campus university than a year ago despite a record 160,939 undergraduate applications overall, according to figures released Thursday. In contrast, transfer applications to the 23-campus California State University system increased 6 percent. UC freshman applications spiked, rising 19 percent over a year earlier. Higher-education leaders were at a loss to explain the change in transfers. “We’re still exploring that,” said Kate Jeffery, the interim UC admissions director. She theorized that budget cuts
$688m
256,000
$1.6b
$131m
3 to 3.25 2 to 2.75 26,600