More than half of student body qualifies for financial aid

The student body at Citrus College is a very needy group.

This is the conclusion of Lilia Medina, director of financial aid, who expressed concern about the increasing number of Citrus students who qualify for financial aid.

There are currently 11,741 students enrolled at Citrus College for the spring 2010 semester. More than half of those students qualify for some form of financial aid, Medina said.

So far this semester 6,446 students have been deemed eligible to receive the Board of Governors Enrollment Fee Waiver (BOGW).

In order to qualify for the BOGW, students must meet certain criteria determined by one of three methods.

Method A requires that students be enrolled in public assistance programs, such as TANF/CalWORKS, or SSI/SSP.

Method B is based on the student’s income from the previous year. Method C is for students who are eligible to apply for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

As of the beginning of March, the Financial Aid Office has processed 10,316 BOGWs for students who qualify under method A, B, or C of the program.

Many of these students meet the income standards that are based on the federal poverty guidelines, which are published each year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Based on Medina’s information, of the 10,316 students processed by her staff, 6,446 are currently enrolled and have had BOGW cover their student fees, and only 49 were determined as not being eligible or denied.

So far $3,236,270 has been waived in student fees to the 6,446 students who applied for the 2009-2010 BOGW program.

Of these students who are eligible for the BOGW program, 99 percent are also eligible for FAFSA or other federal Pell Grant programs.

Many Citrus students are struggling to pay for college, and they need this information, Medina said.

“The number of students who qualify for federal aid is a reflection of the student body,” she said.

“Fifty to 60 percent of our students have incomes under the federal poverty level.”

During the 2008-2009 school year, 6,100 students were in the BOGW program. Those numbers have significantly increased between fall 2009 and the beginning of the 2010 semester.

For the 2009-2010 school year, 3,659 students have qualified for the federal Pell Grant program. So far, $10,602,860 has been distributed to Citrus students in Pell Grants. The maximum amount for qualifying full-time students is $5,350.

On the Citrus College financial aid Web site (available at http://www.citruscollege.edu/stdntsrv/finaid/Pages/default.aspx), students access scholarship programs, verify disbursement dates, and links to the FAFSA Web site, along with other federal/state funded programs.

Students may also go to Student Employment Services, an office that makes job referrals and provides students with opportunities for mock interviews and resume writing courses.

“Salaries have been affected because there is such a high demand for jobs,” said Tedd Goldstein, Student Employment Services supervisor.

The high unemployment rate has made it important for students to know how to market themselves to potential employers.

So who are the typical Citrus College students of today?

“We have a younger student body on campus,” said Lan Hao, director of institutional research. She said that 74 percent of Citrus College students are 24 years of age or younger, compared to 58 percent statewide.

Hao also stated that the college has a 42 percent representation of Hispanic students compared to the statewide data of 30 percent representation.

Another statistic derived from the 2008 Community College Survey of Student Engagement is that 44 percent of Citrus students are working full-time, 23 percent are non-native English speakers, and 23 percent have children living with them.

Lucinda Over, dean of counseling, assembled the presentation “Who are our students?” for Flex Day on Feb. 17.

“I knew that we had students that were poor, but I did not know that more than half of our students were poor under the BOG guideline poverty levels,” she said.

For the Flex Day workshop, Dale Salwak, professor of language arts, gathered input and data and reflected on his 37 years of teaching at Citrus College to describe today’s students.

Salwak focused on a letter written by Dennis Korn, a professor in the Automotive, Career and Technical program, which reads, “Our students are everyone. They represent the diversity of California… They are a reflection of us, our efforts, of our passion.”

Salwak offered possible reasons why some students experience an inability to focus on their studies.

He cited examples of first-generation college students who often come from low-income families. Many of these students are lacking in literacy skills and are overwhelmed by home issues.

Some did not do their best in high school and are looking for a second chance to succeed. Salwak called these students the “survivors.”

On the other side of the spectrum are the well-prepared, computer literate students from homes with stable incomes.

“Each student has his or her own challenges, talents, and potential,” Salwak said.

Students may pick up scholarship applications in the Financial Aid Office, Admissions and Records, or the Foundation Office. The deadline to submit applications is Friday, April 2, by 4:30 p.m.