Fresno-area students can benefit from ‘historic’ donation, believed to be largest ever
Community colleges in the central San Joaquin Valley will soon get their share of $100 million that will go toward emergency financial aid and scholarships for students as soon as this year.
The Finish Line Scholars Program funds will be awarded over 20 years, starting with colleges in regions with the fewest percentage of adults with degrees, according to California Community College Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley.
The gift — touted as the largest ever philanthropic gift to community colleges in the nation — comes from the Chicago-based Jay Pritzker Foundation.
“This unparalleled level of support for our students will be life-changing,” said Ortiz Oakley. “We are grateful to the Jay Pritzker Foundation for their generosity and recognition of the California Community Colleges as a vehicle for transformative change.”
The three regions identified as neediest by the California Community College system are the Inland Empire, the far north, and the Central Valley.
Community college leaders hope to close achievement gaps in the Valley and put it on par with the rest of the state.
Studies have shown that educational attainment is directly linked to poverty. Central Valley counties are among the highest in the state for both poverty and the number of adults who do not have a college degree.
Schools in the Central Valley and surrounding areas that will receive funds are: Clovis Community College, Fresno City College, Madera Community College, Reedley College, West Hills College Coalinga, West Hills College Lemoore, Merced College, San Joaquin Delta College, Columbia College, Modesto Junior College, Bakersfield College, Cerro Coso Community College, Porterville College, College of the Sequoias and Taft College.
Each institution will receive $150,000 a year that will go directly to help students with transportation, housing, food, childcare, and textbooks. This is the “true cost of college” that is a barrier to completion, community college leaders said.
Each college will develop its own plan on distributing the funds, Ortiz Oakley said, but with the ultimate goal of closing regional achievement gaps within 10 years. Students could receive up to $18,500 a year.
Ortiz Oakley could not say how many students a year would be helped, but he said the money could be combined with other existing grants that already help students.
To qualify, students must be attending full-time, be receiving a fee waiver under the California Community College Promise program, and demonstrate that they have a goal of completing a certificate, degree, or transfer to a university. Other qualifications are left up to each college.
Ortiz Oakley said the gift comes during the pandemic, at a time when community college students are struggling more than ever and might be taking fewer units or dropping out.
“Twenty percent of students in our system said that they have been furloughed or laid off of work through the pandemic,” Ortiz-Oakley said during a news conference Tuesday announcing the gift.
“Half report that their incomes are lower, and 57% of students are dealing with basic needs challenges, including housing and food insecurity, many of whom are struggling with homelessness. More than four in 10 students say that they are being challenged by needing to care for family members while still going to school.”
Fulisha Oscar, a Madera Community College student, and mother of six, said financial assistance is paramount to her success.
Although Oscar has not been chosen for this specific grant yet, she said her journey through college has not been easy, and she is grateful for any help. She has, in the past, worked several jobs while raising her children and going to college.
“The scholarships I have received have been more than (a) financial contribution,” she said. “They have helped me improve my family circumstances while trying to obtain my goals in education, and also allow me to give back to my community.”
The criminology and psychology major escaped childhood abandonment and domestic violence as an adult to get to college. She hopes to one day open a home for survivors like herself.
“I was a high school dropout and a teen mom,” Oscar said. “I plan on transferring to Fresno State in the fall of 2021. I currently have a 4.0 GPA, but the journey I traveled to get here wasn’t always easy.”