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Volume 38 Issue 10
February 27, 2001

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ASMCC develops tutoring, emergency
scholarship fund

BY TAMMY JARVIS
MESA LEGEND
Submitted February 27, 2001

The Associated Students of Mesa Community College proposed plans to develop the Student Empowerment Center at the Feb. 27 MCCD Governing Board Meeting.

The program, run entirely by students for students, will offer tutoring services and emergency scholarships.

ASMCC President Spencer Ellingson is excited about the possibilities the project will bring.

"It has potential to help a variety of students who are struggling so hard financially that they have difficulty concentrating on their studies," Ellingson said.

According to Ellingson, the main goal of the SEC is to keep students from dropping out of classes.

"The ASMCC is aware that other problems, apart from academics, arise which create such a difficulty in the daily lives of our fellow students. They often see no other alternative but to leave school," Ellingson said.

"The emergency scholarships are about $100 and they are for students that qualify for and receive financial aid but still have trouble making ends meet," said Marsha Gonzalez, Student Empowerment Center coordinator.

Included within the limited budget of the SEC are bus passes and $5 meal tickets, which are redeemable at MCC’s Aramark locations.

"It’s Thursday, you’re at school all day, you’re hungry and you don’t get paid until Friday. You’ll be able to use your meal ticket," Gonzalez said.

To qualify for emergency scholarships, bus passes, or meal tickets, students must have a 2.0 GPA (or higher), they must qualify for financial aid through the financial aid office, and they must write a complete paragraph stating their financial emergency and what the money is intended for.

Gonzalez believes that students are more likely to ask for help from their peers than applying for help through a faceless organization.

"When students are in need, they feel better asking another student who understands, that way it doesn’t feel like a handout," Gonzalez said.

The SEC will also offer tutoring services with much less restrictions than the Learning Enhancement Center, which is the current means of tutoring help on campus and only offers help one hour a week.

Gonzalez also feels that a tutoring center run by students who have taken the same classes and have had the same instructors and textbooks is more valuable.

The on-campus assistance also offers students help in registration and in edu-cating students what MCC’s campus has to offer.

Both services, according to the recent SACE student satisfaction survey conducted in the fall of 2000, are lacking.

The SEC is looking for tutors and students that can offer assistance."

As of now, tutors can receive service learning credits, but we’re trying to get the district to offer funding for work study," Gonzalez said.

SEC representatives must have a GPA of 2.0 (or higher); be enrolled in four or more credit hours; have at least one semester of previous college experience; have completed and passed the course for which they plan to instruct with a grade of B or higher, and plan to complete the following academic year at MCC.

"I think it’s a great way to use college funds," Ellingson said.

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