Summer Session II cancelled; ruins summer plans

Summer Session II has been cancelled and for many students, including myself, it is a disappointment and inconvenience.

This was the summer that I planned to finish my last two Spanish classes that are needed to transfer to ASU. I was determined and ready to dive into some Spanish books and cram as much information into my brain as I possibly can in the two-month period. It was a way for me to get rid of two classes in a two-month period rather then sitting in class for two semesters while I finished the two mandatory foreign language courses. For a lot of students that is the reason that they take summer school: to kill two birds with one stone, to get rid of the classes that they don't want to sit through for a whole semester .

Recently Maricopa Community College District announced that SCC will merge Summer I and Summer II session into one month. That leaves many students aggravated with ruined plans. Now we all have to find other options to fulfill what we were hoping to accomplish at SCC during the summer.

Now what am I and the others supposed to do?

One option is to drive to a different college and take the classes that were supposed to be offered at SCC. The other option is to take Spanish 201 during the summer and Spanish 202 in the fall. Neither one of those suits me. My plans have been sabotaged because of the budget cuts that are occurring throughout the district.

What happened with keeping students out of this whole budget cuts mess? We are supposed to be affected by it last, so why are we being punished by limiting our availability to summer courses?

I have a busy life. I work 40-plus hours a week and I will be participating in a summer internship. I attend SCC because it fits my schedule, it is less than 10 miles from my house and takes me a whole 10 minutes to get to the campus, even during rush hour. I do not have the time, desire or money to drive to PVCC, MCC or any other Maricopa college. Money doesn't grow on trees and my gas tank will not be filled with the administrations money. Who has extra money to drive extra miles to a different college? Not I.

Instead of canceling the Summer Session II, the college administrators should have sat down and brainstormed ways to keep the session opened. They should have at least considered keeping the general courses like: English, math, sciences and foreign language available during the first session.

This whole situation should have been thought out before the cancellations began. People should have considered the students and how it will effect all of us. To put students in a position where they have to go to a different college or postpone a course they desired to take is not acceptable.