Getting paid to go to school? Santa Rosa Junior College among California community colleges trying it out
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Leah Richardson is juggling community college and work, but her job doesn’t pay enough to cover the cost of living in Sonoma County. Often, she relies on a food pantry, despite receiving thousands of dollars in financial aid from her school, Santa Rosa Junior College.
Now a new program will pay her for every hour she spends in class and on homework. The $30 million state program, called Hire UP, is an experiment modeled on the state’s many guaranteed income programs. It focuses on students who are formerly incarcerated, like Richardson, as well as former or current foster youth, and those receiving CalWorks benefits, the state’s cash aid program for low-income adults with children. Ten community college districts received the money, and some schools, including Santa Rosa Junior College, are beginning to distribute it now. Others have yet to set a timeline.
Richardson, 37, is one of the first recipients. On a recent morning, she sat at a cafe next to campus, where students hurried by, but she didn’t notice them as she stared at her financial aid statement on her iPhone.
“I’m a little in shock,” she said as she used her fingers to zoom in on the web page that showed her current grants.
She’ll receive monthly payments of nearly $2,000, starting Friday. Those payments are calculated based on the state’s minimum wage, $16 an hour, for each of the 30 hours she spends every week on school.
When she enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College in 2021, she couldn’t afford to attend full time. She was still adjusting to a new routine, after spending time in and out of jail and substance use treatment centers. She decided to take classes in the afternoon and work from 4:30 a.m. until about 1:30 p.m. at a Safeway store most days of the week. When she wasn’t working at Safeway, she took shifts at bakeries.
“I was exhausted — a lot,” she said. Since then, she’s tried to work less and study more. “Now that I have this money, I don’t have the weight of having to go back to a job that’s going to drain me.”
Gina Browne, an assistant vice chancellor with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, said the office is monitoring how well colleges administer the program and how the money affects students’ outcomes.
“Some students who are working now may be able to stop working or reduce their hours,” she said. “We want students to focus on taking those units so they can get through (college).”
Student aid offers ‘a glimmer of hope’
Every Tuesday, formerly incarcerated students at Santa Rosa Junior College gather in a multi-purpose conference room on campus, part of a state-funded support program known locally as Second Chance. Men with scraggly beards or neck tattoos wave to younger men and women as they walk in. Some students wear T-shirts while others are in button-downs or blouses. It’s a cross-section of the college and the city at large. Modeled like a 12-step recovery meeting, students speak up, one by one, sharing their stories about navigating work, school and life after prison.
Matthew Domingos, 42, helps moderate. He works part time for the college as he finishes an associate degree and prepares to transfer next semester to Cal Poly Humboldt. As a full-time student, his financial aid package totals around $10,000 a semester but it doesn’t leave any wiggle room, he said. “I feel like I’m one trip to the emergency room away from homelessness.” He was selected for Hire UP, but he doesn’t yet know how much money he’ll receive.
Richardson can’t always attend the weekly meetings because of her work and school schedule, though she wishes she could. She pays about $1,100 a month toward rent and hundreds more on utilities, food, and transportation. “I don’t spend money,” she said. “There isn’t any to spend.”
There are roughly 160 formerly incarcerated students who enroll each year at Santa Rosa Junior College, all of whom may apply for Hire UP, said Jessy Paisley, a counselor for the Second Chance program on campus.
That money is a “glimmer of hope,” she said. “How do you focus on turning in your Canvas assignment if you don’t even know where you’re going to charge your computer tonight, or sleep, or get your next meal?”
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