Technology plays an important part in accessing education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students are learning, studying, and connecting with El Camino and each other in ways they might not have ever anticipated. Many are also experiencing increased hardships caused by the pandemic. With those needs in mind, and because instruction will be offered almost entirely online for fall 2020, El Camino College recently purchased 2,000 new laptops that students can borrow for use during the semester.
A California Student Aid Commission and UC Davis Education Lab survey administered at the end of this past May describes a sharp increase in students' worry over finances from mid-March, when the pandemic shifted most college courses to online and resulted in many students losing their on- and off-campus jobs. Despite their financial problems, current college students in the survey said they were unaware of emergency aid available for technology needs and living expenses. Just 56% of them knew that laptop aid was available and less than half were aware of aid for living expenses. A small percentage of students applied for a loaned or a free laptop; most who applied were approved. And just over half of the students who applied for living expenses aid were approved.
El Camino's new Laptop Loan Program demonstrates the college's commitment to removing obstacles and ensuring student success and is guided by specific enrollment criteria and student eligibility requirements. Laptop purchases were supported through several funding sources, including the federal COVID-19 block grant and CARES Act, Student Equity and Achievement funding from the State of California, and the El Camino College Foundation Emergency Fund.