Dear Editor,
You do not wander around the planet, trying to get an educational institution to accept you. You accept it. This isn’t some senior prom, when you run around saying “I need a date, not necessarily one who can breathe on his/her own.” You choose them. If they accept you, but you don’t see them offering what you need, you turn them down. There is no reason for you to accept that school just because they accept you.
“Budget cuts” isn’t just a phase they’re going through. It will be a permanent condition. I’m told there was a day when you could take Klingon in college.  Don’t expect that. The question you need to ask is “how will my school try to ruin my educational plans?” Do you excel at a sport? Can the school eliminate it? Do I have a major in mind? Why won’t the school cut the department? Will the classes I need even be offered?
What happens at universities when they finally wake up to realize they simply cannot continue to function as they have for decades? They cut. It’s ECON 101: Demand increases, so they cut supply. Logical isn’t it. What gets cut? Entire departments can be eliminated, so watch out for that major or minor you wanted. More often, part-time instructors get cut.
Students at my school joke about being on the five or six year plan for getting their degree. I don’t think it’s a joke. Why can’t they graduate? Is it because they’re too busy partying to take a full academic load – or is it because that class they need to graduate is only offered once a year (or every two years) and they have to wait for it?  The school you accept is one which offers the services you need.
What difference does it make if you take that large, lower division course at that four year institution anyway?  Did you realize the same class is probably offered at SWC, or City College, or Grossmont? They’d be cheap. They’d probably be smaller class sizes. They may well be with the same instructor.
Karrin Murphy