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[simonsez]

Double Fees Buy Spot on College's Fast Track

Bristol Community College is teaming up with a for-profit education company to offer classes in popular allied health programs, a first-of-its-kind partnership that will allow students to bypass waiting lists-provided they pay double the tuition...

"It's just unfair,'' said Joe LeBlanc, president of the Massachusetts Community College Council. "I would be quite upset if a student who could pay two times as much jumped to the head of the line to take Bristol Community College classes. Public education, in my mind, means you're keeping your costs as low as you possibly can. We serve everyone, and in particular, the have-nots....''

A full-time student studying nursing, for example, now pays half that amount-if he or she can get in. The college currently accepts only 72 nursing students a year out of a pool of about 1,000 applicants because of limited instructors and space. The rest land on a wait list. Now those students may choose to pay the additional money for a spot in the new program.

[caliotter3]

Disgusting to say the least. Paying the price is already available at the proprietary schools. The public schools are supposed to be available in a fair manner to the public. How disgusting.

[MeganS]

There is a private university in Los Angeles that is similar. For their LVN to BSN program, they charge $120,000. No waiting lists. They are still in business and people continue to apply.

[caliotter3]

But the school in LA is not a public school. Public schools are for all of the public to access, not just those with money. Wonder how this sets with the federal or state funds that flow to that "public" school. Perhaps, the school returns the proportion that would have been utilized by those paying the double tuition.

[Anne36, LPN]

A higher education is really getting farther out of reach for the middle class. The rich get richer and the poor stay poor.

Outside of this, TIME IS MONEY as well. The pre-reqs are so time consuming to pass with a required A that only those who can afford to not work have the time to do well. I go to school with a lot of people who work and cant figure out how I get an A and they cant. Its not because Im smarter, but because I have been studying for 30 hours a week for A&P! If you dont know it inside and out, you cant even guess on the critical thinking questions.

[Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN]

I saw this on the news, this is a public college, same on them, especially when nurses can't find jobs, what is the rush?