American River College’s Beaver Cares program is supposed to provide services for students in crisis, but instead a student must battle for their needs to be met. Beaver Cares needs to be held accountable and be transparent with the students of ARC.
When a student is in crisis, it’s already too late to have to wonder if their school is going to step up and help, but this is what Beaver Cares does to its students.
According to the Beaver Cares website, the organization offers financial aid, housing resources, transportation assistance, textbook assistance and a student emergency fund.
All these programs require different ways for students to access them.
In the housing resources request, Beaver Cares’ website says it will help students with hotel vouchers and the ability to help students secure long-term housing, but students are not given all the information on what is available for housing.
Students have gone and shared a need for rent, only to be informed that either they are asking for too much money or that the availability of funds is not there.
There is no accountability to how Beaver Cares is handling the money they are given to support their students.
Beaver Cares should show where the money comes from and how it is being spent. This money is supplied to help students be successful, but most walk away feeling more defeated than when they first came.
There needs to be clear guidelines on how Beaver Cares decides what the qualifications are for the aid, how much aid is allowed per program and to show the funds being moved.
For transportation assistance, students are told they can apply for gas cards, but often aren’t able to get one because they are out of stock.
ARC requires enrolling students to pay for a public transportation card in their tuition, which some students cannot use. This pulls unnecessary funds from students that are already struggling to support themselves.
According to the Beaver Cares website, they will also help with the purchase of textbooks. But, students are informed by Beaver Cares to go to the library and see if they can borrow the book, or that there are no more funds to assist the student.
Yes, Beaver Cares does help students to some degree. But who? How are the decisions made? How much money does Beaver Cares have in the beginning of the semester and at the end?
Students are trying to earn a degree while going through hunger, anxiety and even depression. On top of this, some deal with insecurity in a living situation and struggle to just survive from one day to the next.
Do we expect students to know exactly what is available to them through a website that is not updated and programs that are not upfront with what and how much is truly available to a student? These are unfair circumstances to put any student through.
Beaver Cares needs to be overhauled to be accountable to the students, which is who the government funds the money for. Beaver Cares needs to be transparent about what forms are available to who and how money is spent.
This money does not belong to the school. It belongs to the students.
