Half of California community college students lack money for food. New funding aims to help
California community colleges will get $100 million to help homeless and food insecure students as part of a $47.1 billion higher education spending plan that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Tuesday.
The community college money for students in need would help fund meal donation programs, food pantries, CalFresh enrollment and other nutrition assistance programs. It would also help colleges offer on- and off-campus housing resources.
“Student supports are not just academic supports, they are also basic needs supports and oftentimes the ones that go unaddressed,” Rafael Chávez, the spokesperson for the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges told The Sacramento Bee by email. “These dollars will ensure that students don’t have to choose between paying for a meal or shelter and staying enrolled in school.”
A recent COVID-19 student impact survey by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges found that 57% of students experienced basic needs deficits such as housing and food insecurity.
Students of color reported higher rates of deficits. Of the students surveyed, 37% experienced housing insecurity and 18% were homeless.
In 2019, California considered a bill requiring community colleges to keep parking lots open for homeless students to sleep in their vehicles at night, responding to worries from students who felt at risk on the street. However, the bill’s author, Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, pulled the bill following amendments that he said weakened it.
The new spending plan requires each California community college campus to create and fill a new job position of Basic Needs Coordinator and open a Basic Needs Center by July 1, 2022. The Basic Needs Coordinator would assist students with on- and off-campus housing, food, mental health and other basic needs services.
Some community colleges already provide food pantries and services to help students find housing.
Sacramento County’s Los Rios Community College District partners with local food banks to provide on-campus food distribution, Associate Vice Chancellor Gabe Ross told The Sacramento Bee by email.
Los Rios colleges also provide CalFresh resources and enrollment assistance, emergency grants through the Los Rios Foundation and an online web search tool to help students find local housing, food and other basic needs resources.
“Many of our students struggle with homelessness or food insecurity, so additional resources to help meet those student needs would be incredibly valuable,” Ross said by email.
The bill also aims to address current and prospective student hesitation to return and enroll in community college due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by allocating $100 million for community colleges to increase student retention rates and enrollment.
This story was originally published July 28, 2021 at 5:25 AM.