September 2019 News Briefs
September 26, 2019
College offers 2 years free tuition
De Anza College will offer free tuition and funds for textbooks and materials for two years to eligible students.
The program, initially the De Anza First Year Promise, was to provide students with one year of nancial support. The now implemented California College Promise Program will offer service for two years.
Funding comes from the increased 2019-2020 state budget.
The program includes $1000 to spend on materials and includes the VTA Smartpass.
Qualifying students must be California residents or AB 540 students, enrolled full-time and attending college for the first time.
De Anza’s College Promise is funded by Assembly Bill 19.
De Anza ran a pilot in Winter 2019 with 175 students and saw an increase in retention rates from 2% to 3%.
Student .edu email address
Foothill and De Anza College students can request an .edu email address through MyPortal.
The student emails allow discounts, including 50% off Spotify, Apple Music and Norton Virus Software, free Amazon Prime for six months and 50% off after six months, free access to the Microsoft Design Software, a rate of $1 a week for a New York Times subscription and a free OneDrive storage account with one terabyte of storage.
According to 2014 study by the College Office of Institutional Research and Planning, 80% of students wanted an .edu email and 40% said they would use the discounts provided multiple times a day.
The DASB Senate endorsed giving students universal access to .edu email addresses in 2017.
Bill for overnight parking postponed
Assembly Bill 302, which proposes allowing homeless students to sleep in their cars overnight on California community college campuses, will be paused this year.
The bill will be adjusted to a two-year bill instead, according to an article from the Mercury News.
The bill now proposes allowing students to park overnight on campuses from July 2021 to the December 2023.
According to the California Community Colleges #RealCollege survey, 19% of community college students experience homelessness and 60% are housing insecure.
De Anza president search continues
The Foothill-De Anza chancellor’s office and an appointed hiring committee will conduct the search for a new De Anza College president this academic year.
In October, the chancellor’s office will announce steps for the selection of the De Anza president and form a search committee, said Becky Bartindale, Foothill-De Anza coordinator of communications and public affairs.
Christina Espinosa-Pieb will continue to serve as interim president until June 30, 2020.
