There are a number of services Delta College provides to ease financial strain amongst its student population. That includes food assistance, free laundry services, low-income housing support, and accessible computers, among other resources.
“Delta College recognizes that basic needs have a direct impact on the mental-emotion-physical health, wellness, academic performance, professional development, and holistic success of students,” Delta College notes on the Basic Needs Center webpage.
Any financially struggling student enrolled at Delta is eligible for these services. Notably, the Student Referral Form of the Basic Needs Center on campus can be filled out by someone other than the student.
The Basic Needs Center is located in Danner 202, and open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
FOOD-BASED SERVICE
Delta offers resources such as CalFresh, a long-term food assistance program that supplies students with up to $281 per month for groceries.
There is the Student Food Pantry, where struggling students may go to get access to food.
The Student Food Pantry runs on a point system, where students are given 16 points each week. Two extra points are awarded to students that bring in bags on their weekly visit. Each item ranges from 1 to 3 points.
The Student Food Pantry is located in Shima 101 and open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Wednesdays from 1 to 4 p.m.
EMPOWERMENT RESOURCE PROGRAMS
The Empowerment Resource Center on campus offers additional support to “students who are currently or former foster youth, probation youth, and to students who are currently or formerly incarcerated.”
The Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) is a state-funded program designed to help students who are economically and educationally disadvantaged.
This is the implementation of Assembly Bill 164/69 “which allocated state funds to create the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) in the California Community College system.”
Cooperative Agencies Resources for Education (CARE) is an affiliate program of EOPS curated to single parents. Students may qualify to receive specialized instruction, personal development activities and workshops, assistance grants, transportation assistance, transportation repair reimbursement, campus and community resource referrals, and more.
Guardian Scholars is a program made to assist current and former foster youth. It is transitioning into a new program called “NextUp” or formerly known as the Cooperating Agencies Foster Youth Educational Support (CAFYES).
“NextUp’s mission is to assist and guide current and/or former foster youth with their education goals by providing guidance, academic, and financial support,” Delta writes on the About NextUp webpage.
NextUp students may be able to qualify for additional support, including food and necessity grants, specialized workshops, enrollment support, campus and community referrals, and other services.
The Phoenix Project on campus helps formerly incarcerated students and those in custody, and those who are incarcerated in the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) and the Custody to Community Transitional Re-entry Program (CCTRP) in Stockton.
Delta offers an Independent Living Program/Youth Empowerment for Success program (ILP/YESS), which helps youth from the ages of 16 to 21 who are in the foster care system or on probation.
SHOWER FACILITIES
Shower facilities are available to unhoused students on campus in alignment with Administrative Policy 5220 that says shower “facilities may be available for use by students of San Joaquin Delta College District when such use does not conflict with District programs and operations.”
Campus locker rooms are the designated shower locations.
“The student is enrolled in a minimum of five (5) units of coursework; The student has paid enrollment fees; The student is in good standing with the community college district,” are the criteria for this service as written on the San Joaquin Delta College Catalog 2024-2025.
There is a population that qualifies for the service.“Currently, over 60 students at Delta College have self-identified as homeless this semester and qualify for the showers service,” said Alex Breitler, Delta College Director of Marketing and Communications.
FREE LAUNDRY
Delta provides a laundry service for struggling students, which is available every Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Holt parking lot. To qualify, the student must show their student ID, be enrolled for classes, and have a food pantry application on file.
Approximately only 20 to 40 Delta students take advantage of the service, according to Jamie Merlan, the Student Programs Specialist of the Basic Needs Center.
