Yang Liu, 22, University of California, Berkeley

As an international student from China, Yang Liu has accomplished a lot in the three years that she has been in the United States. She came to California speaking very little English, started her college education at Ohlone College in Fremont, and is now majoring in Industrial Engineering at University of California, Berkeley. But Yang has run into her fair share of problems, especially in regards to academic counseling. At Ohlone, Yang says different counselors gave her contradictory advice on what she had to do to transfer to a UC. Because of this, she took the initiative to visit UC Berkeley to speak with an advisor, who could clarify what classes and extracurricular activities she would need to get admitted. While a Berkeley advisor was helpful before she attended, Yang says she has been misinformed more recently. For example, her advisor told her that a class she took at the community college would satisfy the Math 1A requirement at Berkeley. However, now the same advisor told her that she must take the math class at Berkeley, she says. Because of that misunderstanding, Yang now will have to take classes during the next two summers. This is extremely frustrating and stressful for her because she does not receive financial aid. Moreover, the Industrial Engineering Department only offers a limited number of classes each semester that count toward graduation, and many times students cannot enroll in them because they get full right away, she says. “Many students are forced to stay an extra semester because there are not enough classes available.”

Henry Bishop Jr. ,19, DeAnza College

Henry Bishop, Jr. is working on an associate’s degree and hopes to transfer to a four-year university. But he’s run into his fair share of crowded classes at DeAnza College in Cupertino. “There’s not enough room for everyone to sit down in his classes in the beginning of the quarter, but usually it thins out after a few weeks.” Henry thinks that education needs to be prioritized by the state earlier than college, and thinks that everyone deserves a chance to go. “In order to go to school full time, I have to work full time. I can’t work full time if I’m going to school. Please, please, please tax me more or people like me and send that money to the schools to help them out.”

Summer Sandlin, 20, Los Positas College

Summer Sandlin wants to be a high school teacher. Summer expected to be able to transfer to UC Davis after two years at Los Positas College, but she was turned down by UC Davis despite having a 3.3 GPA. Along the way she had trouble getting the classes required to transfer. “You cross your fingers and hope to get into English 1A. Last year they had to cut tons of classes. It’s getting more and more packed here,” says Summer, who just completed her third year at the Livermore community college. “Class sizes are out of control. People are sitting on the counters and sitting on the floor.” The first in her family to go to college, Summer is convinced that a degree is a key to success. “My parents generation were the last generation that could get anywhere in the world without a degree,” she says. “My generation is looking at getting master’s degrees just so we can get into the field we want to be in and get paid a decent amount of money.”

Amrah Salomon Johnson, 27, San Francisco State University

Amrah Salomon Johnson had trouble getting classes first at a community college and then when she transferred to San Francisco State University. Because she transferred to S.F. State as a Political Science and Creative Writing double major, Amrah thought that she would have a wider course selection. However, this did not turn out to be the case. Amrah was obligated to enroll in two classes that would not count toward her graduation to remain a full-time student in order to receive complete financial aid. She explains, “My classes are not only overcrowded, but physically uncomfortable. There are not enough seats, and many times I have no other option but to sit and take notes on the floor.”

Alfred Lopez, 20, California State University, East Bay

From a young age, Alfred Lopez watched his parents’ struggle working 9 to 5 blue-collar jobs, which made him determined to go to college so that he could become financially independent and support them in their old age. Beginning his fourth year as a Business Administration major with a minor in Accounting at California State University, East Bay, Alfred is heavily involved on campus, working 25 hours a week between the Student Disability Resource Center and Excel (Math Tutoring Program) and serving as the president of his fraternity, all while taking a full load of classes. He finds that the biggest challenge for most students to complete their degree in four years is a lack of information about campus resources such as financial aid. “(Students) just don’t know it exists,” he says. The same goes for other crucial services on campus. “Students are dropping out every quarter because they don’t know the resources. If they were able to talk to a counselor or get tutoring, we’d have a better graduation rate than we do now.”

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