Funds provided for at least nine different student incentives and initiatives as administrators found creative ways to spend federal funds |free classes, $500 incentives to student workers, $500 to each individual registered student who claimed a need (no criteria other than claimed need), free dorm room and board
The Yavapai Community College Administration provided a list of some of the ways it used the $5.5 million in COVID-19 relief federal funds it was awarded at the September 14 District Governing Board meeting. The list was labeled “incentives and Initiatives” and was used specifically for students.
As noted in an earlier Blog posting, under a formula created by the federal government, before the federal funds can be used for institutional needs, it must first be spent on students. The more funds spent on students; the more money becomes available for other institutional uses.
On the student side, the funds have been used for paying the first class free of every student at the Community College. All of the classes taken by students at the Verde Valley Skilled Trades Center, which was just opened, were free for the first semester.
It has used funds to provide a $500 incentive for each student worker. Free classes at the Career and Technical Education Center Campus at the Prescott airport in 3D printing, unmanned aircraft, and advanced manufacturing were made possible by the federal funds.
Free room and board at its student dormitories for the fall semester was paid for out of the award. A majority of students living there are student athletes from outside Yavapai County. In addition, all students were eligible for what was described as a $500 per student grant for emergency assistance.
According to the Community College, to obtain a $500 emergency assistance grant, a student filled out a form making a request. There were no criteria other than a student claiming a need. There was apparently no review by the Community College of the accuracy of the request. (See video below.) The Community College reported that this category made up for a significant portion of the spending from the award.
The Community College did not report how many millions in total were spent on support of students. However, if the explanation given the District Governing Board at its September meeting was correct, to get the full $5.5 million half of that would have been spent directly on some sort of student support.
The video below contains an explanation of how these funds were spend by the Community College as described by Vice President Rodney Jenkins.