The three loyal readers of this blog know I have been a staunch supporter of the separation of Texas Southmost College from the University of Texas System for reasons amply stated in posts here before.
I railed ( I admit it, I did rail) against the high tuition, the subsidizing of the UT System by college district taxpayers, the extravagance of former UTB President Julieta Garcia at the expense of the community, and the inside deals that favored her sycophants and buddies.
Providence be thanked for the fact that a courageous board of trustees at TSC bucked Garcia's move to dispossess the community of its college district and sent her packing, or else we'd have no college at all.
But now – after a great start in lowering tuition and eliminating some fees – the new administration under Lily Tercero has implemented a series of moves ostensibly meant to make junior college education more inexpensive and accessible to our low-income community.One of their "innovations" has been the implementation of Ebooks, that is, course text books that students pay for up front with their tuition and are accessible to them online. The service was part of a multimillion deal between TSC and an outfit called Dynamic Solutions.
Under this "cutting-edge" scheme, students paid an average of $95 for access to each course Ebook per class. This seemed like a good idea until parents and students realized that there was no hard copy of the book available and that there were some severe restrictions.to add insult to injury, if you go to the Pearson website, the same tome in a hard copy is available for some $10 less.
See for yourself:
http://www.textbookw.com/default.asp?pid=5400&gclid=Cj0KEQiAhvujBRDUpomG5cq_mI0BEiQA7TYq-qu_joKrS6K9Osa-ZINz-F8BN9ER-6r23DGCsx-n_R8aAjN08P8HAQ
Now, if we are to believe the premise that the new TSC regime under board president Kiko Rendon and his majority and president Lily Tercero want to lessen the costs of a community college education, why are the eEbooks more expensive than the hard copy?
To top it off, if a student needs to cram for finals and he or she is not around a personal computer or Notebook, he needs to make hard copies of the chapters he's going to be tested on. In some core courses such as anatomy and biology, this means getting color copies so as to tell the difference between tissue layers and the different layers of muscle or skin. Some students need to highlight, make notes, or otherwise underline the relevant text to help them study. At 25 cents per page, this adds up to a pretty penny quickly.
Think about this.
If you have to copy 300 pages of an anatomy textbook, that equals to $75 per course in copies alone.
If you have already paid $95 per book (including the $10 surcharge on four books for a full-time student vs. a hard copy) that means that the cost of your Ebooks for a full-time student is about $380 per semester. Throw in, say, another $200 ( $50 times 4) and the real cost of the books is actually $580 per semester instead of $85 times 4 which would equal $340.
That is an addition cost of $240. Multiply that times, say 5,000 students and that's $1,200,000 (?) extra that is coming out of the community to pay for the electronic books. Why the extra $10 per Etextbook? And why the extra cost incurred to the students who have to make copies to study them?
If the student prints out the text on his own personal printer, then the costs really escalate with the average color and black cartridge set costing about $45 per pair. Two or three over the course of a semester and it quickly adds up to real money. doesn't it?
We have yet to be convinced that Tercero and the current board majority are going to achieve the accreditation of TSC as a separate entity divorced from UTB. In baseball parlance, the count is 0-2 (two failed attempts to get accreditation so far) and the third one has to be the charm or TSC is out.In grade scores, it is a D- rapidly eroding into an F.
What good is a paper going to be to a TSC student if is isn't going to be backed by accreditation?
The current board cannot rest on the laurels of a courageous and principled stand in their fight for independence if it means that after the good fight they simply allowed another overlord to take over the helm of the TSC cash cow.
16 comments:
The Ebook fiasco is just the start of the problems with Dynamic Classroom/Pearson. I won't go into all the gorey details, but the bottom line isva much lower quality of instruction and therefore learning. Cheating is also rampant with this system and that hurts nobody but the students.
As it now stands TSC is on it's way to becoming a diploma mill.
Who approved the contracts to Pearson vue??? Not Lily
Tercero was one of the biggest cheerleaders of Pearson. She was literally clapping like a mindless circus seal when Dynamic Solutions was pitching the idea during the board meeting.
Another big issue with TSC is that they are working with old equipment too, when are they going to update those old computers? Why TSC is throwing three million a year on a third-party IT institution when they don't even bother with replacing those aging systems?
Did Lily inherit the Person problem or did she institute it? This is a question that needs to be answered for a thorough understanding of the issue.
Printing on paper is outdated. If you have a computer you can print electronically to your hard drive using Adobe. Or you can copy the screen with Snipping Tool which comes free with Windows.
All this did not happen in a vacum, it is the board of trustee's leardership that has allowed this. Tercero has carte blance to do as she sees fit in running the collage and thanks to this, TSC will soon fail again in it's quest to attain accreditation, loose enrollment, loose millions of dollars in lost grants.
Kiko, Ed, Art and Dr. Garcia are but a mere rubber stamp to the madness going on at TSC. I wonder what Tercero has on Kiko and Ed who jump as soon as she says frog.
I attended TSC for the last two years and the Pearson system fail! Students Freshman Orientation and there were no text or etext for some classes in the students pay and were not given their money back. I ask for the system to be taken out because there are word going around that many students have drop out of TSC this semester.
Adela uses Adobe.
Starting a community college is a big job, especially since there was nothing left of TSc after UTB looted it and left it a empty shell. It may be a bumpy start but it is in the right direction. We need to give it time to get on its feet. Once UT-RVG opens and stops open admissions you'll be glad that local kids will have a place to start. Without TSc they would be locked out.
Lily Tercero did not inherit Pearson, her friend Dr. De la Garza who stand to benefit from it worked Lily rather well. In turn she did a good job of convincing the board it was the best thing. The Board trusted her. I bet that is not the case anymore. She has Kiko and his job is to bring 3 board members on board he never has trouble bringing his buddy ED, Dr. Rey who is more than willing to do whatever Dr. Tercero wants and Art goes along for the ride.
This is a mess Lily is just NOT a leader pair that with Kiko the clown and it is a recipe for disaster.
Brownsville and the nearby area truly needs a community college. But unless there is massive change in leadership and direction TSC won't be it. It will not receive accreditation because it is not doing many of the things necessary to receive accreditation.
Please consider going back to Any school and taking a writing course or two....
Vision Statement Texas Southmost College will be a premier community college dedicated to student success. Mission Statement Transforming our communities through innovative learning opportunities. Board members should pay attention to their own Mission Statement.
What is so innovative about an English Class, or History or Math. One professor, one Classroom. Where is the Welding programs, the Workforce programs where is the very much needed grants. Where is the innovation. Where is the dedication to the students, Lily Tercero might be a good person but she is way over her head, and the board needs to recognize that. She is going to leave you all holding the bag. Nothing is holding her here but her paycheck.
Or three.
We all should revert to Cuneiform writing. Get your clay tablets out.
Todos son RATAS!!
People stop your bitching! ENOUGH! What did you want? Pay out-of-control tuition fees under Garcia's administration or pay a little more for high tech text books. So you a pay a little more! Big deal. Financial aid pays for it.
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