Cal Poly, Cuesta College give millions in financial aid to students impacted by COVID-19
Nearly every day, 17-year-old Olivia Edmonds drives three miles to her job at Wingstop in downtown San Luis Obispo. And nearly every day since the coronavirus pandemic hit, those three miles have seemed longer and longer.
It’s not the worry of unmasked customers bringing in the deadly virus that weighs Edmonds down, but rather the gas prices, keeping up with the bills and managing her psychology classwork from Cuesta College.
“Then I got the email saying that $1,000 was going to be transferred to my bank account,” Edmonds said. “It was just all of a sudden, whew, we can take a breath now.”
Edmonds is one of hundreds of students who received emergency grants from Cuesta College and Cal Poly. The grants largely come from federally allocated Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds, which the schools obtained in late April.
SLO schools get nearly $18 million in federal CARES Act funds
Cuesta College was allocated more than $3.5 million. The public community college, which has three campuses in San Luis Obispo County, will distribute nearly $1.8 million to students; the remaining money will go to coronavirus-related costs accrued by the college.
Cal Poly was allocated $14 million, half of which will go to students. The remainder will go to the university.
Cal Poly has already distributed most of the $7 million to more than 6,700 students, while Cuesta College has given about 40% of its CARES Act funds to nearly 780 students.
Along with the CARES Act money, Cuesta College has raised more than $150,000 from community members for students impacted by the virus, which they have distributed to 212 students.
“We’re trying to get students’ hands on the money as quickly as possible because we understand the stressors that they may be experiencing,” said Mark Sanchez, vice president of student services at Cuesta College. “A lot of our students lost their jobs or they got their hours cut. So, we’re not asking them to prove need. If they apply and they tell us they have a need, we disperse a check to them.”
For Cuesta College students, the application takes a little more than a minute to complete. They are asked to provide their student identification number — which allows the college to view their basic financial information — and to define how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted them.
Cal Poly took a different approach to distributing coronavirus-related aid.
While students there could fill out an application for emergency funds, Cal Poly also looked at the number of students who had filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, and determined which students likely had the greatest need for the financial assistance, Matt Lazier, the school’s director of media relations, told The Tribune in an email.
From there, Cal Poly granted students anywhere from $200 to $1,600, according to the school’s website.
“We have heard from student recipients, who have been grateful for the assistance,” Lazier wrote. “But we know it is not enough and that students are facing very real hardships of loss of income and other obligations that outweigh the federal aid.”
COVID-19 costs for Cuesta College, Cal Poly
Both Cal Poly and Cuesta College have incurred unexpected expenditures due to the coronavirus pandemic — from buying students laptops for school work at home to providing face masks and cleaning materials to faculty.
Cal Poly has spent about $27 million while Cuesta College has spent $654,739. The remaining CARES Act money that does not go to students will go to the schools to help recover some of those costs.
“Our first goal, though, was to keep students successful at Cuesta, getting them through the spring semester,” said Shannon Hill, Cuesta College Foundation executive director. “We want to seem them again in the fall.”
Brianna Johnston, a 36-year-old single mother, said the aid given to her by Cuesta College helped her stay afloat.
Johnston, who also receives financial support from a federal Pell Grant, Cal Grant program and CalWORKs Cash Aid, said she was unable to work this summer due to coronavirus restrictions — and she’s had to pinch pennies to pay the bills.
“I couldn’t work, the pandemic kept me home and kept me from being able to get money, so it just got a little overwhelming,” Johnston said. “The $1,000 grant came right in May at the end of school and it was great for me to be able to pay rent for June because of that.
“They’ve made my life so much easier being a parent and now I’m able to get ready to start school work again in the fall.”
