Over winter break, the Bakersfield College administration got together to figure out how to bring more money into the school.

Because of the California budget crisis, BC is expecting a $1.6 to $2 million shortfall in cuts all over campus.

The administration came up with a new tax. A utilization tax, or a “desk tax” will be implemented fall of 2009.

This tax will bill students for each day they sit in a desk. BC professor Shmeven Polmes explained the tax to his class.

“There will be fewer teachers if there’s not enough money,” Polmes said.

But BC does not want to cut its staff, and that’s where the idea of the desk tax came from because the fees generated from this tax will benefit the college directly.

For only $1 or $2 a day, students will take attendance by filling in a bubble next to their name. This also helps professors because if a student does not fill in his or her bubble for two consecutive weeks, he or she will be dropped from the class. Legally, the professor has a right to drop a student if he or she does not attend class for two weeks, so this helps the professor out.

At this point, students only see negative impacts on them. Creative ways to help address the issue of the tax might include bringing one’s own chair to class or sitting on the floor. Think again. The fire marshal creates room capacities and for the safety of students, other chairs and people sitting on the floor pose a fire hazard in case of emergencies.

If you want to take a class online, start sweating. When students tap into the BC mainframe with their student ID number, that $2 fee is automatically shown as an unpaid debt in their account.

By the end of a semester, a full-time student may rack up over $500 in desk fees.

There’s no two ways around this tax: At the end of each semester, the debt must be paid in order to receive units and even enroll in next semester classes.

Pay up, suckers.