Central Valley College Corps provides up to $10k to College Students
By Ricardo Lozada
Fresno, Calif. ( KFSR)—Many college students face various challenges when paying for college. They ask questions like, “Will I have to go into debt? Will my financial aid cover my studies?”
Thanks to a new statewide program being tried out at various higher education institutes like Fresno State and Fresno City, this could be a problem of the past. This new program is called College Corps and has been around for two years at Fresno State.
Eulysis Lopez, one of the program’s graduate assistants, said this is a great opportunity for students and that some of the program’s requirements are in place for next year.
Lopez said, “Some of the requirements for CVCC is that we require students to provide 450 hours of community service throughout the entire academic year, and we require students to have at least a 2.0 GPA, and we also, you know, want them to be undergraduate students as well. Most importantly, we want students who are passionate to serve their community and create positive change.”
Lopez said there are a lot of benefits to College Corps.
She said, “I think the biggest one is the money, of course. Students can earn up to $10,000 in money that they can use for college. Basically how it works is that the first $700 of it is distributed to you every month, it’s called a living allowance. So, you would get around 700 eight $100 per month distributed through financial aid so you know whatever type of refund you have. Then, you will receive the other 3000 when you complete your 450 hours at the end of the academic year. And then you also would earn course credit as well since we do teach a service-learning course here on campus on Friday afternoons. You also get to develop your skills and grow professionally and personally.”
Students can do their 450 hours of community service through one of three focus areas: Climate Action, K-12 education, or Food Insecurity.
Juan Reyes has been in the program for the first two years. He has done his community service in K-12 education. Every Neighborhood Partnership is an after-school reading intervention program for low-income areas in Fresno Unified.
“I chose ENP because it best aligns with my career goals,” said Reyes. “I didn’t have much experience working with students, and in my future career, I want to be a school psychologist, so this was helpful for me to become a School Psychologist.”
Reyes thanks CVCC for helping him become more professional and wouldn’t be the person he is today if it weren’t for this amazing program on campus.
“CVCC has taught me a lot. It’s taught me how to network. How to be more professional because when I first came to college, that was one of my biggest struggles: learning to be professional on the job.”
The College Corps application is now live and open on the Fresno State College Corps website. Students have until June 1st. for the priority deadline and are encouraged to apply if they are passionate about serving their community and helping under-served communities through positive change.