At the seventh annual Partners in Learning Conference organized by De Anza College last spring, English instructor Lita Kurth presented a question: “Does De Anza need a poor people’s club?”
“For every 10 poor students who get into college, only one finishes,” she said in a recent interview. “Because poverty and unemployment are shameful, people do their best to ‘pass’ as middle class and when they can’t, rather than speak up, they slide out of sight. Would a students-only club be best or could students, faculty, and staff all benefit from such a club?”
In the months since April, an organization that started with the working title “the Poor People’s Club” has evolved into the “Broke Student’s Association.”
One of the co-founders, De Anza student Frank Padia said, “This club is not just for students who are struggling, but anyone on campus who wants to make education inclusive to all.” When a student needs help, it is not always the same situation and they are not looking for a handout.”
“One thing we’d like to have is an advisory board of students who are struggling financially,” said Kurth. “So they could suggest some ways they could use help.”
Padia was partly moved into action by seeing available resources that were out of reach for De Anza students, such as student discounts and free shipping on Amazon. “You have to have a school email. We don’t have one.” Kurth added, “That’s one of the practical things we’d like to change.”
Kurth also wants the club to function as a place for students who have the resources and want to help to connect with students who have specific needs. “We were talking about people who have extra books, and are not selling them back, how can they make contact with students who need those books?” she asked. “We welcome other students who are not struggling themselves, if they want to be part of the dialogue.”
Kurth and Padia both stressed the value in forming this new club. They do not want students to leave college because of financial issues.
Padia pointed out that the Broke Student’s Association benefits first-generation college students. “They don’t know they could apply for scholarships, grants and things like that because their parents don’t push them, because their parents themselves didn’t go to college,” he said.
Students think the cost of attending community college is doable without financial assistance, which may be true in some cases. But once they see how much books and other necessary items cost and add up they then find themselves in the “assistance needed” category, Padia said.
“But there is no one there saying, ‘have you tried scholarships, have you tried this and this?'” Padia said. “It’s not just financial aid, there’s other ways that you haven’t found but you just don’t know this.”
Students or faculty interested in the club can contact instructor Lita Kurth at [email protected] or student member and co-founder Frank Padia at [email protected] to learn more.