The Clackamas print., May 04, 2016, Page 3, Image 3

GRANTS HELP WITH STUDENT EXPENSES
STORY A N D PHOTO BY S HAY LYN STR U N A
The new sch ool year is ap p roaching
fast; spring term is more than halfway
through.
By now , you have probably applied
for financial aid but it never seem s to
be enough. W ith the tu ition increase
and all o f the other school costs such
as textbooks, college is very expensive.
The Associated Student Government
has recognized th is issue and offers
grants each term.
While ASG is not on campus during the
sum m er, they are the rest o f the year.
“ The grants that we offer currently are
...a veteran grant, a fee grant, a childcare
grant and a textbook gran t,” said Cody
Havens, the grants officer at A SG .
Applications are available online and
generally open two w eeks before the
term starts and end the first day o f the
term . The selection process includes
factors such as in com e, credit hours,
GPA, number and age o f children, and
the ability to show that one is in need
of financial resources.
The num ber o f gran ts handed out
depends upon the resources available,
the number of students who apply and
the need from stud ents for fin an cial
help.
In fo rm ation th a t is needed for the
application includes incom e, financial
aid award and household expenses. There
will be questions asking about the need
for the grant.
H avens is graduating th is year and
w ill be leaving the grants department.
Currently, he is working on proposing
a transportation grant.
The process for proposing a new grant
can be lengthy so the next grants officer
would need to continue the process for
starting this new grant. However, it’s not
known whether or not that will happen.
“ P m gonna try to w rite som e type
o f m ini grant to apply for it, but then
we have to sustain revenue to keep it
going. My thoughts were if we ... build
bicycle enclosures and we rent those out
to students who use bicycles, they could
do some kind of contract per term to pay
for those and all o f that m oney would
go towards transportation grants,” said
Havens.
M ich elle Baker is th e stu d en t life
and leadership coordinator. Sh e was
Emily K au tz, a preschool teacher at the Family Resource Center on campus, works with children In daycare. CCC grants can
help cover the costs.
the grants officer w hen she attended
Clackamas in 1996.
“ We only had one grant, and so I was
actually called the child care officer at
that tim e, because that was the only
grant that we had available,” said Baker.
Back th en , the child care grant was
supported by fundraising that the student
governm ent did. The CCC Foundation
was not involved in funding these grants.
A SG was able to raise about $6,000 a
year and about seven grants were given
out per term to use at the YM CA facility
on campus.
Baker then worked with A SG and the
Foundation to secure fu n d in g for the
childcare grant. The am ount rewarded
varies based on a num ber o f th in g s,
including the financial need.
It was after Baker left as a student that
the fu nd in g for the grant allowed for
student moms to use the grant at other
child care facilities.
A few years later, funding was secured
for the textbook grant. This grant will
give you $100 to use for textbooks.
The fee and veterans grants are fairly
new, im plemented w ithin the last five
to six years. The veterans’ office here
on campus works with the Foundation
on that grant.
“ The fee grants got added just a couple
o f years ago in coordination w ith the
horticulture d ep artm ent, they raised
fu nd s ... the m oney com es from the
horticulture departm ent,” said Baker.
ASG is very proud of being able to offer
financial help to students.
Student Kyliee Murphy said, “ Because1
o f the grants, I did n’ t have to pull as
much for loans. I was able to purchase my
books and supplies and not be strapped
for m oney.”
Be on the lookout when registration for
fall term opens. ASG will have messages
put up on the m yClackam as portal to
announce application deadlines for the
grants.
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