This week all hell broke loose at Santa Monica Community College. SMCC is considering a two-tiered pricing system for courses.

Those courses that are popular, often because they are required, would carry a higher tuition than other, less sought-after courses.

Students seeking to express their (rightful) outrage at this stealth tuition increase were pepper-sprayed by SMCC police. A law enforcement overreaction that is becoming more familiar everyday.

In the CSU the Chancellor and Board of Trustees have been moving toward a similar two-tiered system for several years.

Extended education (now Extended University) was created to deliver post-graduate training to individuals engaged in the workforce. Employees or companies in need of additional training could take advantage of extended education courses for additional education and training. These courses are not subsidized by the state–unlike traditional undergraduate courses–so the students pay the whole cost of their education.

Many CSU graduate programs are taught through Extended University, which makes sense; graduate degrees represent training beyond the undergraduate level. Students seeking professional degrees (e.g., MBAs) should pay for degrees that will mostly accrue benefits for them.

Increasingly, however, the Chancellor has moved summer courses and remedial courses into Extended University. These are courses typically associated with  gaining an undergraduate degree. These are courses that students required for graduation and, in the past, were rightfully subsidized by the state.

To add insult to injury students cannot use state financial aid to help pay for these courses: They must pay the cost out of pocket.

Making things even worse, students are not guaranteed the same type of instruction that they get during the regular school year.  Faculty employed through Extended University do not receive the same pay, benefits, or protections of our labor contract. Extended University can pay them less (plus no benefits costs) and hire and fire at will. This allows the for-profit arm of the CSU to drive down labor costs by hiring instructors based on cost rather than qualifications.

Education by the lowest bidder.

It is reminiscent of what we have seen happen throughout the economy: Paying the same price and getting less in return. Think about the last time you flew on a plane. You paid the same price for the ticket but: Checking a bag? Pay more. Want leg room? Pay more. Hungry? Pay more. Want a better travel experience? Stay off an airplane!

Extended University courses are pure profit for the CSU. This strategy represents one scheme the Chancellor is using to privatize the CSU.

Students pay more and get less. In fact, that should be the new slogan of the CSU:

The CSU: Pay More, Get Less