In a nation wide study, California has improved in nearly all areas of higher education since 1990.

The study, conducted by the National Center for Public Policy and HigherEducation is a biennial report that gives each state report cards for its higher education system. The report card grades five areas: preparation, participation, affordability, completion and benefits.

On the positive side, California received the highest grade in the nation for affordability. In both 2000 and 2002, California received an A in thiscategory. The study notes that although public four-year universities are still relatively expensive for low-income families, “the very low share of family income that the state’s poorest families need to pay for tuition at the community colleges makes California far and away the top performer in this category.”

According to first year student, Eriqua Horgan, undeclared, the education she has received as a community college student is comparable and “might even be better” than the state’s universities.

For Horgan, both affordability and high quality education make community college the sensible choice.

She says, “I’ve talked to people who go to universities and I think our classes are better. At the state universities, a lot of the students are fresh out of high school and I think the professors give them baby steps. Here, people are all different ages so I think sometimes the coursework is harder.”

The lowest grade that California received in this category was for Preparation.

This refers to the ability of the state’s secondary schools to prepare students for college.

The study notes that there has been improvement since Measuring Up 2000, but the grade has not changed. It stays at a C-.

There has been improvement in the amount of eighth graders taking algebra, however, “a low percentage of high school students enroll in upper-level math and science courses.”

Jody Goodban, graduate of a local high school and student at BIOLA, a private university in California recalls how the public school system prepared her for direct entrance into a university. “Some classes, like AP English and math [trigonometry and pre-calculus] did. French did not.”

The study does make reference to the idea of the Advanced Placement classes being good preparation. It says, “The proportion of high school juniors and seniors who take and score well on Advanced Placement tests has increased.”

Not everyone feels that the AP system is good preparation for college.

Horgan says, “I think that AP classes don’t prepare you for college, theyprepare you for the test.”

For the other categories, California earned a B+ for participation, a C+ for completion and an A- for benefits.