Delta College combats low enrollment numbers with more perks
STOCKTON — Delta College is offering perks to boost enrollment.
Xavier Saldivar-Lopez, 18, knows that college is a juggling act.
He has some flexibility being an online student, which he finds helpful while attending San Joaquin Delta College.
"I wanted to focus on work because bills don't pay themselves," Saldivar-Lopez said.
The business major student works part-time for the school, sometimes at its free food pantry where any student can stock up on essentials, including free clothing. Other perks may mean students qualify for free tuition while having access to free textbooks and college events. Though, there are some trends hard to reverse as community college enrollment crashes.
Typically, low unemployment means low enrollment as people take their chances with a strong labor market. Still, Delta College wants to remove any barriers, if possible.
It conducted a recent survey to see what prevented students from taking courses.
"It showed 60 percent of Delta College students have trouble at least meeting one or more of their basic needs," said spokesperson Alex Breitler.
So, it partnered with the San Joaquin Regional Transit District to offer free transportation for the 2021-2022 academic year while offering a weekly mobile laundry service.
Some of the services, like the free food pantry, were offered before the pandemic.
However, students will soon be able to get free teeth cleaning, including X-rays, at the student health center.
Another report by the Institute for College Access and Success reveals that most students' budgets changed since COVID-19 – meaning expenses went up while income tanked.
More than 50 percent of students spending more on books and supplies reported the expense increase made it harder to stay enrolled.
Yet, it is not just the resources that give students like freshmen student Weslen Nunley hope he will successfully transfer to a four-year college.
"I think it's really helpful to me personally," Nunley said. "It's just not the stuff that they have around, it's the people, the community."