Yuba College students reflect on struggles to stay enrolled

Yuba College Sociology Professor Marc Flacks was curious as to why a significant number of students drop out of community college after just two semesters. He and his students began looking for answers, which proved to be elusive. Then a study came out in March that opened their eyes.

“It blew us away while reading the study about how widespread these issues are for students and the challenges they face outside the classroom,” Flacks said. “As we began talking about it, a lot of the students realized they or their friends might be facing some of the same issues,

whether it be with housing, transportation, food, health care, etc.”

About 40,000 students from 57 colleges across the state participated in the California Community Colleges #Realcollege Survey. The survey was conducted during two different semesters, one in 2016 and the other 2018.

Of those that responded to the survey, 50 percent said they were food insecure within the prior 30 days, 60 percent said they were housing insecure in the previous year, and 19 percent said they had been homeless within the past year.

Using that information, Flacks divided his students into different groups – one looking at how a person’s income can affect their ability to receive an education or struggles with transportation, another looking at food insecurity and the other tackling the issue of housing.

“There is this hierarchy of needs that people have, and if you are struggling with food or where to live and how you are going to get there, it’s hard to focus on your own cognitive development,” Flacks said. “And it’s not just college students experiencing these things. There’s an argument to be made across all education.” Student struggles One of Flacks’ students didn’t have to look very hard to understand the struggles some students go through for housing. Nia Williams, who is also a member of the college’s women’s basketball team, said even though she receives financial aid, it doesn’t come close to covering her costs.

“I receive $1,500 per semester in financial aid, but I have to pay $700 a month for rent and transportation each month. One semester is over four months, so financial aid does not provide enough for me to survive,” Williams said.

After she finishes up at Yuba College, Williams hopes to transfer to a Division 1 school in an area where living expenses are more affordable.

A few other students were tasked with researching how income and employment status can play a role in an individual’s ability to receive a college education. After looking at figures for community college students in California, they found that 70 percent of students work full-time; 76 percent work at least 30 hours per week; 30 percent drop out their first year; 60 percent have no help with college costs from family members; and 2 percent get federal work study aid.

“Honestly, one of the things I found most interesting was the fact that we tried looking locally but all the statistics we found were broader, more statewide. That makes me realize that it’s not just Marysville that’s going through this,” said Anthony Rivera, 20, a computer science major at Yuba College.

Rivera, who is visuallyimpaired, wanted to also research how many students struggle with public transportation in trying to get an education, as well as possible solutions.

“I went to the Bay Area for a year where I was staying at an Independent Living Center. While there, I was able to travel very easily, with buses coming every 5-10 minutes and the BART system,” Rivera said. “Coming back here, I noticed a big difference. Buses here come every 30 minutes and are sometimes late. And, there is no bus that takes students to the Sutter County campus. So, for someone who relies on public transportation, that prevents me from taking classes out there.”

He found one example of a college near Boston where the bus stopped three miles away from the campus, which prevented some from going to school. The college came up with two solutions, either have a shuttle bus to close the gap or subsidize ride shares like Uber. They eventually found that the shuttle bus was much more expensive than subsidizing rides for students with needs. Meeting needs The food insecurity team looked at the college’s food pantry, or Dusty’s Pantry, which provides food and snacks to Yuba College students in need. College administrators worked together to open the pantry for students following the flood scare in 2017.

At its height, the pantry was opened four days a week and serving a total of about 560 students per month. However, due to a loss of funding and food donations, the pantry is not as well stocked, and is open fewer hours per week.

“We do have a lot of college employees that offer monthly donations from their paychecks, but its challenging because we are spending about $500$600 per month purchasing the food items,” said Cristina Sanchez, director of EOPS/CARE and the CALWORKS program for the college. “We are always grateful for people who drop off food donations as well.”

Despite the challenges, Yuba College students are still able to receive two meals per week, either breakfast or lunch. In addition to providing meals for students, those running the program provide an information sheet that shows other food bank resources in the area.

In January, the pantry served 150 unduplicated students (figure doesn’t include returning students) for a total of 336 meals. In February, there were 190 unduplicated students for a total of 459 meals. Figures for March and April were about the same.

“There was a study done in 2018 by the CSU system of student basic needs support that told us 42 percent of students had been food insecure within the last year,” Sanchez said. “That’s a tremendous amount, so we are trying our best to help combat food insecurity and to assist students that apply for Calfresh.”

For more information on how to donate to the food pantry (taxdeductible), visit https:// yc.yccd.edu/student/ dustys-food-pantry/.

“Especially in our community, I think there are students that maybe don’t speak out or are well-known, but I think the majority of students struggle in some way to go to college. Not just because we are millennials or anything like that, but because we don’t have the resources, and it’s just really sad,” Rivera said.