Orange Coast College is offering free tuition to full-time, first-year students.
The “Pirates’ Promise” is available to California residents who apply for financial aid and enroll in at least 15 units, which would normally cost about $690 a semester, according to this story in the Orange County Register.
“We do hope to see a bump in enrollment, and maybe this is an incentive for students to apply,” Juan Gutierrez, a spokesman for the college, told the newspaper.
The program, covering fall 2018 and spring 2019, is being funded through the California College Promise Grant, which was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown last year. Santa Ana College, also in the Coast Community College District, launched similar a free-tuition program in 2016.
And here are some other stories from the week ending Aug. 31:
- About 40 students from College View Elementary in Huntington Beach received new backpacks filled with colored pencils, folders, composition books, paper and other school supplies courtesy of an Arizona-based package delivery company.
- The Black Chamber of Orange County presented Orange County Superintendent Dr. Al Mijares with its Distinguished Service Award at its annual banquet.
- Orange County schools are already recruiting talent and assembling teams for this year’s Academic Pentathlon, which is featured in the latest edition of “OCDE in 30 Seconds.”
- Students enrolled in nearly 70 schools in two Orange County districts are eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch regardless of their family incomes thanks to a federal meal program.
- An instructor at Laguna College of Art + Design and some of his students created an impressive mural at Laguna Beach High, depicting high schoolers engaging in science, the arts, sports and more.
- A group of students from OCDE’s ACCESS Skyview Elementary and Middle School were invited by the Merage Jewish Community Center of Orange County as guests of the 2018 JCC Maccabi Games and ArtFest.
- During a Laguna Beach Unified School District board meeting, parents and students shared their thoughts on revising the school calendar to accommodate an earlier start date.
This is the part where we encourage you to keep up with local education news stories by bookmarking the OCDE Newsroom, subscribing for emailed updates or following us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.