Across the United States, jobs requiring postsecondary education are growing faster than ever. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, by 2025, 1 million jobs that require “some college” education (but not a four-year degree) will go unfilled because there will not be enough educated workers to fill them.
In order to meet these needs, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office has set goals of increasing overall rates of degree or certificate completion by 20 percent and increasing the number of career education students employed within their field of study from 60 to 76 percent.
Santa Ana College has the future-focused curriculum and student-centered infrastructure in place to meet these ambitious goals, but we need your help making sure our region’s worthiest students have the financial support they need to succeed.
Pathway Scholarships
As an extension of the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office commitment to developing efficient educational pathways that lead directly to in-demand careers, these scholarships will be aligned with specific career pathways that have been developed and are currently being offered at SAC.
Donors can choose to support a variety of programs such as Santa Ana College’s innovative Pathway to Law School program, which improves provides educational and financial resources that are designed to make it easier for students to transfer to a four-year institution, and then into law school. Or, donors can develop their own scholarships to support students pursuing degrees in business administration, engineering, education, criminal justice, manufacturing, or any number of SAC’s industry-focused degree and certificate programs.
Transfer Scholarships
Every year, SAC students are accepted into world-class universities such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, USC, UCLA, UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, and others. But transferring can be expensive and many students can’t attend due to a lack of financial resources. Increased tuition, books, moving, housing, and living expenses often combine to create insurmountable financial obstacles, turning achievements that should be celebrated into lost opportunities that are regretted.
Unfortunately, not only do the financial challenges associated with transferring mean students lose out on the opportunities that go along with attending prestigious four-year institutions, but so does Orange County.
Supporting transfer ensures that our highest achieving students are able to reap the rewards of their greatest academic accomplishments so that we as a community can benefit from them, too.
Supporting Working Adult Scholarships
Community college students come in all shapes, sizes, and ages, but returning to school can be especially intimidating and difficult for adult learners who are often working multiple jobs and supporting families. Unfortunately, these adults are often the ones who would benefit most from advancing their education.
This fund seeks to provide real-time, responsive financial support to students who are just starting on a new career path and those who are nearing completion so that more adults can upgrade their skills, their paychecks, and their lives.
President’s Scholars Program
Centered around attracting and backing the best and brightest students so they can continue to make an impact in our community and our world, this prestigious program will create access and opportunity for high-achieving students by supporting their all-around personal and professional development with the following:
- A $1,000 yearly book stipend
- One-on-one mentorship
- Exclusive access to the SAC President’s roundtable
- Honors society membership
- A substantial $2,500-$10,000 transfer scholarship.
The President’s Scholars program sets the stage for Santa Ana College to attract the best talent in the region while making sure that SAC remains a college of choice for our region’s next generation of business and community leaders by ensuring that they receive the support that they need.