Community College Plan Will Save Taxpayer Funds
* Professor Jack Solomon’s attack upon Californians for Community College Equity (May 28) fails to refute our key fact-based assertions: 1. Community college transfer students currently outperform students who start out at the University of California or California State University as entering freshman. 2. Shifting all freshman/sophomore instruction from UC and CSU to our open-access 107-campus community college system will save taxpayers over half a billion dollars each year.
Professor Solomon very properly draws attention to the demographic changes now taking place. But as matters stand today, 85% of the 1.8 million college students in California are either community college students (1.3 million) or community college students who have transferred to four-year schools, public and private.
With their help, and with the help of working-class Californians in general (including minorities and women), we are confident our ballot initiative will pass--in 1998 if not in 1996.
ROBERT OLIPHANT
Northridge
Oliphant is executive director of Californians for Community College Equity.
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