By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
An Oregon agency that overlooked Oregon Coast Community College’s becoming a standalone institution in February almost cost the college $320,000 in federal coronavirus relief funds.
The Oregon Legislative Emergency Board on Tuesday allocated the Lincoln County college an additional $320,000 in federal CARES Act funds to help students affected by the pandemic and defray some of the college’s coronavirus-related costs this spring.
The act provided money to community colleges and students affected by the coronavirus crisis, based on enrollment. Smaller Oregon schools like OCCC were to get no less than $500,000, said David Price, spokesman for the college.
However, the database the Oregon Department of Education used to allocate funds to community colleges still showed OCCC as accredited through Portland Community college.
Now in its 33rd year, OCCC had been accredited through larger institutions. However, after a six-year-long effort, the college secured its independent accreditation Feb. 3.
Because the Department of Education missed that it had become an independent institution, OCCC received $180,000 based on its portion of PCC’s enrollment.
Price said now with the full relief amount, eligible students will receive money to at least partially offset income lost to being laid off work or having to deal with child care costs once schools closed.
“Many of our students have lost work, many have found themselves caring for young children as schools and childcare facilities closed across the county,” OCCC President Birgitte Ryslinge said in a statement. “These funds can make the difference for some of our students when it comes to offsetting some costs of attending college.”
The college is still determining what costs it will pay for with its portion of the money.
“There are myriad costs the college has borne, from small ones like enhanced Zoom accounts, to larger ones like training, Chromebooks and other equipment to give students the tools they need to succeed in a remote-learning environment,” Price said. “Then, there are personal protective equipment and other related equipment and signage costs. The list goes on and on … and it will only grow and change as new needs pop up.”
Ryslinge credited Rep. David Gomberg, D-Lincoln City, and Sen. Arne Roblan, D-Coos Bay, both members of the Emergency Board, for pushing the college’s argument.
“OCCC deserved to be treated just as well as any other accredited college in Oregon,” said Gomberg. “But because our accreditation is new, we got overlooked. It took a lot of conference calls and Zoom meetings, but I’m very pleased to say we got it fixed.”