Community colleges paying students to attend classes

New CalWorks program is offering 10 districts an hourly wage for financially struggling undergraduates

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 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, 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 today. 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 grocery 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,” she said.

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).”

Every Tuesday, formerly incarcerated students at Santa Rosa Junior College gather in a multipurpose conference room on campus, part of a state-funded support program known locally