Just give schools enough money

Re “Free community college for ... some,” Opinion, Feb. 14

State institutions of higher learning train the work forces that enable corporations to make profits — and these corporations do everything in their power to avoid paying taxes.

For them, education should be considered an investment. Gov. Jerry Brown could start a charitable foundation and invite all the businesses that have hired our graduates to make a tax-deductible contribution to it. They can thus invest in California’s future.

Also, those well-meaning millionaires who endow college scholarships should consider providing funds to K-12 schools, so that cashstrapped districts can pay good teachers truly middleclass salaries. Research funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found that well-paid public school teachers can make all the difference in preparing students for college. Helen H. Gordon

Santa Barbara

In 1961, I graduated high school in Kingsburg, Calif., with a less-than-stellar academic record. My options: Get a job or go to a community college and then transfer to Fresno State College.

Basically, community college was free, and Fresno State cost a whopping $56 a semester — all courtesy of Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown’s Master Plan for Higher Education. Since I was drafted for the war in Vietnam, my graduate degree in urban planning from Boston University was courtesy of the GI Bill.

My higher education opportunities truly changed my life, and I am grateful for them but sorry to see how expensive college has become. Gary Washburn

Chatsworth

In spring 1977, I needed permission to enroll in 27 units before transferring from community college. The counselor asked why I wanted so many classes.

I told him it would be my last opportunity to have access to college courses that were almost free.

I did not know then that, over the next 14 years, I would spend another sevenplus years as a student. Jana Shaker

Riverside