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Seattle Central Community College Correspondence Courses

Correspondence Courses: Overview  Image courtesy partners.ecenglish.com

The Correspondence Courses Program is an opportunity to enroll in and complete courses from Seattle Central Community College from your home or work. The courses enable individuals to earn credits towards an A.A. or A.A.S. degree.

Correspondence courses are open enrollment. Students who register for these courses have two quarters (180 days) to complete course requirements.

Financial Aid may not be used for Continuous correspondence courses and full–time tuition fees are not applicable. Loan deferment eligibility is not available for these courses.

Tuition cost per course is $554.20 for Washington state residents and $654.20 for non–residents which includes a 20.00 non–refundable materials fee.

There are no required on–campus meetings for correspondence courses. However, some courses require students to take their exams on campus. Students who are unable to come to campus to take their exams are responsible for finding their own proctor to supervise exams.

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Rethinking Life Behind Bars

By Dianne Frazee-Walker

“Courtney called out, ‘Mom, you promised you weren’t going to leave us no more,’ ” Ms. George recalled, her eyes glistening. “I still hear that voice to this day, and he’s a grown man.”

Stephanie George, serving a life sentence without parole in Louisiana for a minor drug infraction still recalls the heartbreaking pleas from her eldest of 3 sons, Courtney, then 8, in 1997.

Ms. George is one of a half a million people in the U.S. locked away in prison for non-violent drug crimes.   

When Ms. George was sentenced 15 years ago, her children were 5, 6 and 9. They have been raised by her sister, Wendy Evil, who says it was agonizing to take the children to see their mother in prison. They would fight over who gets to sit on their mother’s lap.

A lockbox, containing a half-kilogram of cocaine seized by police in Ms. George’s attic was sufficient evidence for Judge Vinson to be convinced of a crime severe enough for Ms. George to be separated from her children for the rest of her life. 

Judge Vinson, whose reputation is anything but libertarian, defends that a formula dictated by the amount of cocaine in the lockbox and her previous criminal record was what determined Ms. George’s sentence.

Ms. George and Judge Vinson had conflicting views about the cocaine filled lockbox stashed away in Ms. George’s home. Ms. George claimed the cocaine was hidden in the attic and she was not aware it was hidden in her house. She insisted her drug dealing boyfriend placed the cocaine in the lockbox and hid it in the attic. 

Originally, Ms. George and Judge Vinson did agree on the fairness of the sentence imposed by federal court because Ms. George was a known drug dealer and the cocaine was found in her house, even though her boyfriend was responsible for putting it there. The punishment for drug possession does not entail a life sentence.

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