YOU, TOO, CAN BE MR. OLYMPIA
If you or someone you love was among the 11,000 qualified high school seniors who were rejected this spring by the University of California and California State University because there was no money to take them in, don't expect any sympathy from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Asked today if he would consider changing his mind about cuts to education, Schwarzenegger responded "absolutely not."
He then told his own, up-from-the-bootstraps-from-Austria story:
"All we're asking the education community to do is take those 7,000 students (actually 7,600 who were turned away from UC campuses) that cannot get in next year to go to community college and start there — or to pay themselves and go to a private university. There's many options. I came over here to this country and went to the university. I didn't have a student visa so I had to pay out-of-state tuition. I had to pay high fees. I wasn't allowed to go to one university, I had to take two classes at Santa Monica City College, then I had to go for two classes through UCLA Extension, then I had to take an extra class over at West Los Angeles College. This is how I jumped around.
"But you know something? I did it. Because I wanted to do it, and I wanted to get smart and I wanted to be a winner. That's what this is all about. No one gave me a handout. The universities were there, the educators were there -- but it was up to me then to make the money and pay for the tuition and all that. That's what this is about. Everyone has to work together. Next year it will go up again, the tuition increase and also how many students get to participate in education. We are on target. It's only the 7,000 students this year who were held back. All right?"
