Success

I made it through another semester with my brains intact but my nerves just a little more frayed.  It was an enjoyable subject (Dreamweaver) and I created a pretty good website featuring a consortium of fictictious business, all relating to something my family actually does.  Right now, it's only available on the college server and, after I make a few changes, I'll post that web address.  I ran out of time (don't you love being around a procrastinator?), so didn't get all the pieces put in that I wanted to.  My "grand plan" should be complete after Christmas and I will post it online for everyone to see and read and comment on. 

Next semester, I'm taking another programming class with another expensive book but, hopefully, no program to buy.  The cost of taking classes, even at the community college level was one of my bigger surprises.  I understand that taking computer courses, with the required specialized programs, is a reason my costs are so high, but even so, it's a surprising amount of money. 

One interesting thing I recently learned about the financial troubles that colleges face is the way the state government uses colleges for funding.  The number of total students enrolled in classes for a given school in 1999 is used as the base for the number of total students that will be "funded" for that school for the current school year.  "Funded" meaning the tuition from the base number of students can be kept by the school itself.  Any income from students over that base goes into the state general fund.  Therefore, there  is no incentive for colleges to increase their enrollment or offer more classes.  Once the magic number is reached, it does not benefit the school in any way.  I'm not sure if that includes the increased income from student body fees, health fees, etc.   It very frustrating for  students who need just one more class - specific to their major - to graduate which may not be offered for several semesters.  So far, I haven't run into that problem, but several times, computer students needing a particular class were recruiting anyone and everyone to join so there would be enough students enrolled to prevent the class from being cancelled.  In most of my classes there  less than 10 students by the end of the semester,  but we got the class we needed.

By the way - I got an "A" this semester!  YAY TEAM!!