Students affected by COVID-19 can get free tuition at Maricopa Community Colleges, funded by Phoenix
Tami Smith moved to metro Phoenix from North Carolina earlier this year specifically to enroll at GateWay Community College’s machining program.
The 54-year-old wanted to shift from low-paying call center jobs to the manufacturing industry and she knew of the Maricopa Community Colleges from her brother’s time there. She moved cross-country and started learning machining as the only woman in her cohort.
But paying for the eight-month program isn't easy — she’s taken out student loans, worked at a pharmacy and balanced rent and health care costs. Her program ends in December, at which point she plans to get a machining job.
But reskilling at Maricopa Community Colleges is about to get easier for some county residents with a new program in partnership with Phoenix to fund training for career transitions towards high-wage, high-demand jobs.
Beginning this month, students whose jobs or income were affected by the pandemic can receive free tuition, monthly stipends and employment help in a range of workforce programs from manufacturing to health care at the county’s 10 community colleges.
Phoenix is using $7 million of its federal pandemic relief dollars to fund the "Route to Relief" program, which will run through December 2024.
“We are hoping today is the start to a career transformation for so many Phoenix residents,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said at the program’s launch Monday inside a spacious lab at GateWay’s Central City campus, where about a dozen machining students were mid-class.
“We have a unique opportunity to help people enter extremely high-wage careers in Maricopa County. We know it’s been a difficult few years for our residents, but we hope that today we celebrate some silver linings,” Gallego said.
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Funds for tuition and more
Eligible students can get up to $5,000 for tuition, fees and books. Training-related expenses, job search expenses and career services in programs like semiconductor, health care, business, manufacturing and information technology also are covered.
Students also will get monthly stipends during their studies of up to $1,000-$1,500 for other expenses like child care and transportation.
Maricopa Community Colleges Interim Chancellor Steven Gonzales said the program is an answer to a common challenge expressed by students — that it’s not just tuition that poses a burden, but also the costs of living while going to school.
The workforce development program is focused on helping residents gain new skills, said Maricopa County Community Colleges District Governing Board member Susan Bitter Smith.
"It provides so many people career opportunities to better their lives," she said. "This really is an opportunity to reskill for people who want to come back into the workforce in a different route.”
Phoenix leaders see the partnership as a way to help the city grow a talented workforce for local companies and to expand job opportunities for residents. Most of the programs are certificate and short-term in high-demand career areas.
One is the district’s new two-week semiconductor technician training program, which prepares students to work in semiconductor manufacturing, a growing industry in the Phoenix area.
“This program comes at a pivotal time for North Phoenix as we are poised to staff the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company plant," Phoenix District 1 Councilwoman Ann O'Brien said in a statement.
Who is eligible for program?
Eligible students include Maricopa County residents affected by COVID-19 at any point since March 2020 in any of these ways: their household income was reduced by lost wages or hours, they are or were unemployed, they qualified for unemployment or pandemic insurance benefits, they were laid off or furloughed, they stopped work to care for a sick member of their household, they had a loss of child or spouse support, or they stopped work to care for kids home from school or day care.
It's unclear how many students will benefit because funds will depend on student needs and their programs, Gonzales said. If everyone received the full tuition and stipend, which is not likely, the program could assist over 1,000 students.
Eligible fields were selected based on high workforce need. Industries include: bioscience and health care, financial services, information technology and cybersecurity, manufacturing, construction, early childhood education, community health services, electric vehicle technician and technology, entrepreneurship and small business, and hospitality and tourism.
The CNC machining program that brought Smith to Arizona is one of many eligible programs. Instructor James Smith said the hands-on training gives students the core machining skills they need to work in manufacturing, ranging from aerospace and medical to semiconductor and toys.
“I see this (Route to Relief) as us responding to the workforce, and also preparing that workforce — those are two critically important things to do," Gonzales said. "We want to make sure that they’re ready to start on day one."
Students can learn more at www.maricopa.edu/r2r.
Have a story about higher education? Reach the reporter at Alison.Steinbach@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-444-4282. Follow her on Twitter @alisteinbach.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Maricopa Community Colleges to offer free tuition to some students
