ASUCC Serves Students in Need

Few students at UCC know that they have a student government they can rely on in hard times. The Associated Students of Umpqua Community College consists of a board of students who are given a budget to plan activities and maintain programs.

ASUCC’s budget consists of two parts: the college gives us some money and we receive funds from the activity fee that each student pays. In turn, ASUCC provides programs to students and donates to different projects on campus.

We have many programs on campus for students in need. Some are taken advantage of often and some hardly at all.

One of our most used programs on campus is the Project CANS food pantry. Students only need to fill out a form available outside the student government offices and ASUCC will give them a food box with juice, cereal, and enough food for a give three day supply of hot meals.

ASUCC will also be offering Thanksgiving baskets to students in need before students leave for the short holiday break. This is the third year that faculty and staff have worked to donate some of the food items. ASUCC also contributes to the baskets by purchasing any food item not donated.

A student assistance program less utilized is our Backpack Program. For new students in need, the Backpack Program provides a new backpack filled with school supplies. 

ASUCC also passed a proposal this year for gas vouchers which will be available to students winter term. These gas vouchers will be for students waiting for their financial aid checks who are struggling to get to school. Each gas card is worth $20 and students can only apply once.

UCC also offers a discount on bus passes. A bus pass for a term can be bought at the business office with financial aid for $50. This saves students $100 a term on bus passes.

The discounted bus pass is in part due to ASUCC. Each year ASUCC gives Umpqua Transit money in order to offset the cost of these discounted bus passes.

Another program that ASUCC helps fund is the Dental Van for students without dental insurance who are in need of dental care. The Dental Van comes each quarter to UCC and students in need can contact Marjan Coester in the Student Life Offices.

In a similar way, ASUCC contributes money to Smartthinking, an online program paid by UCC to assist students with online tutoring 24 hours a day for some subjects. Each student is offered five hours of tutoring each term through Smartthinking students who need more hours can contact Vicki Formosa in the ESB tutoring center.

ASUCC also offers scholarships. Last academic year, ASUCC gave two separate $1,000 scholarships to UCC students. Students can apply for these scholarships each spring.

ASUCC officers and senators strive to serve all students. If a student is struggling, we will do all that we can to help him or her.

The Mainstream is a student publication of Umpqua Community College.