Editor:

There have been a long string of taxpayer letters published in local newspapers which express frustration with the narrow scope of the community college discussion. Carolyn Smith, asked “Who decided Austin Community College is the most cost effective option?” Chet Drombrowki’s letter was captioned, “Will voters get to look at the other options.” There should be little surprise at the lack of choices presented in the ACC debate. After all, you can’t expect a salesman or a lobbyist to tout a competitor’s product. Tom Scott writes (Advertiser, Feb. 13), “Now its time for ACC to take over the process…” and “ACC will lead the process going forward…”
In reality there are many options, not just one. In order for the voters to make an informed decision they might consider some of the other possibilities for junior college education in Bastrop.
Here are some options for the prospective Bastrop college student and the Bastrop taxpayer to consider. In most cases a mix of these strategies would make sense.
N Fully exploit existing college entrance, “Affiliation Courses”: Every Bastrop student should be taking full advantage of high school courses which are accepted for college credit. In the Bastrop ISD, there are currently 120 courses that are acceptable by ACC, Blinn and other colleges. These courses are essentially free. Motivated BISD students should be taking a full course load, rather than “slacking off” in the final semesters. For each three-hour affiliation course taken, a student will save $459 based on ACC tuition rates or $276 based on more economical Blinn College. A student could take as many as 12 courses prior to graduation yielding as much as $5500 in student savings. Advanced placement courses can also be credited for college credit.
N Earn your education the old fashioned way, pay for it yourself: As the student is the primary beneficiary of his or her college education, it is only fair for students to pay their own way by taking a part time job or by executing a personal loan. There are at least a half-dozen federal grant and loan programs available to students. Ironically, as we appear to be entering a period of severe inflation due to the proliferation of entitlement programs and run-away spending, a student loan could rebound to the student’s benefit. A student who borrows 2010 dollars and repays with 2020 dollars may realize a financial windfall.
N Try Distance Education: For many basic courses in disciplines such as English, history, mathematics and business Aadministration, a brick and mortar campus is not needed. On-line education or “Distance Education” has become the standard for cost reduction and student convenience. Computers are now cheap and ubiquitous. Local community colleges, including Blinn College, whose district begins in neighboring Fayette County, offer many Distance Education courses as does ACC, MIT and virtually all other colleges of significance. These courses are open to all students in all counties of Texas. However, the tuition rates vary widely. The University of Phoenix, the pioneer in Distance Education, charges $1105 for a three-credit course, versus $459 and $276 for ACC and Blinn, respectively.
N Take advantage of the GI Bill: After military service, the GI Bill offers an affordable route to higher education that millions of veterans have used. It is also possible to take courses on various military posts throughout the world. While stationed on Okinawa, this writer took courses in business law, production management and operations research from the University of Maryland. To cite one current opportunity, the University of Phoenix currently offers courses at ten different sites in Germany.
N Attend an existing local college campus: If distance education is not suitable, say for a course requiring a hands-on facility, a student may attend a local campus in Austin (ACC, University of Phoenix, St Edwards, UT, etc) or in Schulenburg at the Blinn College campus which appears to be a compelling and economical alternative. The driving time to Schulenburg and Austin is comparable.
N Build a local ACC campus, or two: The proposal receiving all of the air time involves building a multi-million dollar ACC campus in Bastrop County. By this mechanism, most cost would be shifted from the student to the taxpayer. The cost of a three-hour course would drop to ACC “in-district” rates of $165, which is $111 cheaper than the Blinn out-of-district tuition. There is a parallel (and to this writer, bizarre) proposal to build an additional ACC campus in nearby Elgin. However, recent letters from Bastrop taxpayers indicate that they believe their taxes are already too high and statistics seem to bear this out. Annual tax rates ($ tax per $100 valuation) for Elgin, Bastrop, Smithville and Austin are $2.79, $2.64, $2.35 and $2.02 respectively. The added initial tax rate for the Bastrop campus, alone, would add about 10 cents per $100 dollar valuation or about $100 per year for a $100,000 home. This may be a small sum when considered in isolation, but not when seen as one more bale of straw loaded on the backs of poor taxpayers. Of course higher education costs are skyrocketing nationwide and we could see steep tax increases in the future. Tuition at UT has more than doubled just since 2003 when Tom Scott and others led an effort to “deregulate” tuition.
N Build a Blinn College Campus at a centralized location, say, near Smithville: It’s my understanding that the Smithville ISD sends many students to Blinn College in Schulenburg and is known to generally oppose the ACC alternative. Blinn College already has a campus in Schulenburg, 48 miles from Bastrop. Another campus, or a small Distance Education facility, could be constructed nearer to Smithville, for example, in western Fayette County.
N Wait Until spending is under control: Our country is currently undergoing a serious economic downturn. Unemployment (measured as they did in the 1930s) is already approaching 20 percent while federal spending is racing out of control as the national debt rises to catastrophic levels. Rather than fix the current insolvent entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, elements in Washington seem hell-bent on initiating new ones. Our country has been spent into bankruptcy by feckless national politicians.
While Bastrop taxpayers wring their hands over the irresponsibility in Washington, they have witnessed similar wasteful spending on a local level. Local taxpayers have financed a non-essential performing arts center, an unnecessary city hall, a dubious convention center and have spent huge sums on a local museum which has 1,200 visitors per year. Amazingly, justification for the convention center was partly based on cannibalizing existing trade from Bastrop private businesses. The Bastrop ISD turned down a $300,000 offer for an acceptable eight-court tennis facility in Tahitian Village in order to build a new, spiffy version for $1.2 million. Friends and neighbors, your intuitions are correct; your pockets are being picked.
A college campus is more justifiable than any of these past programs, but the money has already been wasted, and the taxpayer’s assets have already been plundered. Meanwhile our road infrastructure is poor, we have inadequate fire protection and some areas are exposed to flood risk.
Can we really afford to misuse our dwindling resources?
Arguably, at this point our local politicians should be adopting a strict austerity program and shutting off all possible discretionary spending. Until the economic storm passes, construction programs for community colleges should be tabled and students should depend on the existing excellent alternatives.

Bob Parmelee
Bastrop