Coast Community College District receives $14 million in federal aid

As community college students brace themselves for finals, they may also see a cash uptick in their bank accounts of varying amounts.

The Coast Community College District is set to receive about $14 million under the CARE Act’s Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds. The department requires at least half of the money to be awarded directly to eligible students according to the United States Department of Education’s announcement released last week.

The district’s three community colleges are still in the process of finalizing the details of their individual allocation plans.

Orange Coast College received the most amount of funds with about $9 million and a minimum of $4.5 million is expected to go to students, with the priority given to those who receive financial aid.

Out of $4.3 million total, Golden West College will begin dispersing a minimum of $2.1 million to students in increments of $1,500, $1,000 and $500 based on financial aid need and number of units enrolled.

Coastline College received $634,209 and a minimum of $317,105 to be awarded as emergency financial aid grants to students.

When Coastline’s Vice President of Instruction Vince Rodriguez saw the amount of aid, he thought it was a mistake. Then he saw the fine print under the eligibility requirements. Eligible students must qualify for the Pell Grant and be enrolled in face-to-face classes. Many Coastline students are exclusively taking online courses.

“We received one of the smallest allocations across the U.S., so our students who are eligible will receive somewhere between $250 and $400,” Rodriguez said.

He estimates about 1,000 students in the college are eligible for the funds. Rodriguez also said the college set up a donation page in an effort to meet the financial needs of students, whether they are eligible for the federal aid or not. Orange Coast and Golden West also have donation pages on their websites.

The district shut down its campuses to students starting March 16 and resumed instruction on March 30. The spring semester is set to run until late May, but a small chunk of students withdrew from courses from each college and received full tuition refunds.

“We are still in the midst of the coronavirus response. The full financial impact will not be clear until we have a sense of how long disruptions last, how this affects the state budget, and how policy makers prioritize community college funding during the recovery,” said Erik Fallis, director of public affairs and marketing.

Fallis added that the community colleges were already facing a budget challenge before the pandemic. The district placed a hiring freeze starting in January, which college officials expect will save more than $2 million per year.

On Tuesday, the district’s board of trustees approved 123 employees who volunteered to participate in a retirement incentive plan — another cost-saving measure that the board estimates would save the colleges $2.6 million in the first year and $11.6 million over five years.

“I continue to believe that the right approach for our colleges and district is to give those who can the opportunity to retire a bit earlier than planned, recognizing all that they have accomplished, while giving others who remain the opportunity to experience new roles,” district Chancellor John Weispfenning said in a statement in early April.

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