New GED may shut out low-income applicants
The Daily Herald’s James Fuller wrote an article, “Some fear new, high-tech GED a problem for low-income test takers,” on March 4. I am a GED examiner in Belleville and East Saint Louis area, and I definitely believe that the low-income people struggling to get their GED will be left out of this process because of higher fees. ESL will not be a testing area, and most of the applicants coming from other countries struggle to makes ends meet. I would really like to raise the public’s awareness about all the points made in James’ article. Even New York state has opted not to have the new GED and instead is going its own way. It appears that many institutions administering the old GED are being railroaded into the new one. What is Illinois doing? Time is of the essence.
Pat Masar
Belleville