Bringing Back Low-Income Students
Sara Weissman
July 27, 2021
College of Marin leaders hope to use $2,000 grants to persuade more than 400 students who left during the pandemic to return and to entice others to enroll this fall.
College of Marin administrators are trying to lure low-income students to campus, particularly those who stopped out during the pandemic, by giving them $2,000 grants using federal COVID-19 relief funds.
The community college in Northern California plans to distribute the funds — a total of at least $2 million — to between 1,000 and 1,500 students who apply for the grants and enroll for credit or noncredit courses this upcoming fall. Priority will be given to students who are eligible for the Pell Grant or have little to no expected family contribution to help pay tuition. The money will be allotted in $1,000 disbursements in September and October.
The goal of the incentive program is to alleviate some of the financial burdens students continue to face during the pandemic and to encourage the return of the more than 400 students who left the college during the past academic year, said Jonathan Eldridge, assistant superintendent and vice president of student learning and success at Marin.
