Fresno City: Fully Equipped for Student Success

With more than 20,000 students enrolled each semester, Fresno City College has a ratio of faculty to students at 26-1, according to usnews.com

The college offers a variety of programs and resources to ensure each student is successful throughout their college career.

Getting through college is a difficult and challenging goal for many students, but paying for college can be an even more stressful and difficult. According to usnews.com, the in-state tuition for each semester at FCC comes to $1,142 while out-of-state tuition is a staggering $6,782.

Eighty four percent of full-time first time students receive financial aid at FCC. Only 4 percent of students at FCC receive federal student loans. Students can also apply and receive grants and scholarships awards in order to help cover the cost of college tuition, books and supplies. Information on how to apply for financial aid, scholarships, and pell grants is available at fresnocitycollege.edu.

Once the cost of college tuition is covered, the next step is actually getting through college itself. FCC offers a variety of extended opportunity programs and services that help students get through college and reach their goals.

According to an EOPS flyer, “We are a comprehensive program that actively assists students pursuing academic and vocational goals who require additional financial and academic assistance.”

The program is also designed to make the college experience accessible and rewarding to those facing linguistic, social and economic challenges. The EOPS services include academic and personal counseling, financial assistance, career guidance, transfer workshops, tutorial assistance and CARE services for single head-of-household students.

In order to become an EOPS student, you must apply for the program. Visit the EOPS office, ST 101 to apply, or call 559-442-8231 for more information.

In addition to EOPS, the Student Support Service program, or the SSSP, is a free federal TRIO program that serves first-generation, low income and disabled students. According to the SSSP brochure, their services include academic advising, student success workshops, financial aid information, cultural events, transfer assistance and lots of encouragement. For more information and to apply, visit the SSSP room in SC-216 above the bookstore.

Other programs offered at FCC include SYMBAA, PUENTE, IDILE, USEAA, RAIN and REACH. These programs target a more specific group of students. For example, the Puente program attracts more Hispanic and Spanish speaking students, while SYMBAA attracts more African American students, RAIN attracts Native American students and USEAA attracts southeast Asian students.

These programs help students be more successful in college by providing classes with other students who share similar interests, obstacles and backgrounds. Special programs like Puente offer additional counseling and assistance to students by providing additional counselors that are available to students who also share similar ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Although special programs target certain groups of students, all students are welcome to join any of the programs.

Mathew Watson, a Chicano Latino Studies instructor who works with the Puente program explained,“The word ‘puente’ in Spanish means ‘bridge’, so the idea of the program is to create a bridge between the junior college and the four-year university.”

Watson added, “It’s really about providing resources to students to better help them manage that transition and also go to the four-year university and not end here.”

Puente and the other special programs share the same goals. They want to help students succeed at FCC.

The college also provides a career and employment center. The CEC “helps students select a major, identify a career path and find a job,” Cindy Dunn, the coordinator for the CEC, said.

Located in Room LI-147,  the CEC is a great resource for all current students and graduates who need career guidance. Alumni have lifetime privilege and access to the CEC.

The CEC offers career assessments which give students an advantage when choosing career paths and a related college major.

“We take the time to talk to people and pull that information out,” Dunn said about CEC staff’s proactive approach in assessing students. “It takes that personal interaction to get people to open up to you.”

Many of the students who come into the CEC are unsure of the major they want to pursue and oftentimes have trouble typing a formal resume or filling out a job application, Dunn said.  “Students can come in and we will help them work on their resumes.”

Dunn, or one of the many staff and faculty members at CEC, assists with everything from career counseling, guidance with education planning, assessments for college major selection, job search, typing, printing and faxing resumes and job related documents, mock interviews and on some occasions even go as far as providing proper attire for job interviews. For more information about the CEC please visit their office Room Li-147 or call them at 559-442-8294.

FCC also has a DREAM center, which is a resource center for the students identified as Dreamers, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or those seeking AB 540 status.There are approximately 770 undocumented students at the college.

According to information on the FCC website, “The Dream Center is designed to provide information and academic counseling to new and continuing undocumented students at Fresno City College.”  Counselors and staff at the Dream Center assist students to overcome challenges of access and completion of vocational or transfer-level goals in higher education.  

Fresno City College takes pride in helping students succeed and there are programs and resources available to each and every student regardless of ethnicity, economic background, race, age, gender or nationality. Each and every current and future student is encouraged to seek guidance and to take advantage of any of the programs they feel may be beneficial to their success during their college experience.