Greetings!

We're pleased to bring you our first Las Positas College Foundation e-newsletter for 2012. This quarterly update is designed to keep you connected with the College and the Foundation's shared goal of building a brighter future together. As members of our campus and regional communities, you are vital to our success.

 
Las Positas College serves the entire Tri-Valley region from its campus in Livermore. The College educates students for transfer to four-year universities and colleges and for technical and vocational careers, while also offering life-long learning opportunities for continuous education.

The Las Positas College Foundation works to further those goals by developing resources that support the College and, equally important, informing the regional community about the College by promoting its opportunities, resources, and benefits.

Nikki Abercrombie

In recent years, Las Positas College and community colleges nationally have experienced a dramatic increase of students seeking mental health counseling. While the exact causes have not been pinpointed, many students are feeling overwhelmed, depressed, and hopeless.

Fortunately, for the second year in a row, Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty has arranged for the LPC Foundation to be granted $16,000 (for a total of $32,000) to support mental health counseling in our student health center. The funds are made possible thanks to Measure A - the Essential Health Care Services Initiative - approved by voters in 2004.

Nikki Abercrombie is one of more than 400 students annually at Las Positas College who request mental health counseling. She offered to share her story with us. "I was suffering from depression due to grand mal seizures and I needed someone to listen to me," said Nikki. "Counseling has allowed me to speak freely, has increased my confidence, and made me feel valued and accepted for who I am."

Nikki also said that the mental health support she received from the College has released negative feelings, and she has learned coping skills to help her deal with issues in her life.

 
"The Health and Wellness Center has been a place that makes me feel safe, relaxed, and comfortable to just express myself in a healthy way without causing any fighting or arguments," she said. "The counseling center has provided someone to support me."

 
Nikki, a graduate of Livermore High School, is majoring in Performing Arts and is active in several campus clubs. She plans to graduate from Las Positas College in Fall 2012, then transfer to a university.

 
The Las Positas College Foundation and the campus community thank Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty and his staff for making a difference in the lives of students such as Nikki who benefit from this vital funding.

When you picture typical graduates of Las Positas College, whom do you see? Many of us imagine young people in their 20s who, after two years at LPC, have gone on to pursue a bachelors degree at a university. We picture them graduating after four years of college with others their age. We might also picture individuals embarking on a new career who have earned a certificate in fields such as automotive or computer technology, welding, nursing, or other health services.

But as the nature of community college has evolved, so have the characteristics of our alumni. For example:

Our traditional two-year course of study may now take three or four years, depending on variables such as course availability, family, work obligations, and financial resources. So instead of grouping alums, for example, as the "Class of 2014," a new way of categorizing them is by "affinity groups." Such groups can be a college major, a category of individual, or an avocation. Examples of affinity groups are performing arts, media and journalism, returning students, administration of justice, and veterans.

As our community's college, we can acknowledge our positive impact by broadening our definition of alumni. Since many individuals besides students grow from their experiences at LPC - including faculty, staff, and community members - why not consider these individuals "alumni?" Similarly, just as a traditional alumnus might write a check to our college after graduation, we encounter many non-LPC graduates who want to. One example is adjunct instructors who work for area companies during the day and teach a single class at night or online. Such individuals are like alumni in that they believe in LPC's mission and may be able to direct outside resources to support our College.

These changing definitions are important because the LPC Foundation is developing ways to keep all these "alums" engaged with the College. We're working with our current student government on developing a self-sustaining organization for our expanded scope of alumni. In conjunction with the Foundation, these students plan to provide such valuable resources as graduates with several years of work experience to mentor new graduates; free and reduced-cost tickets to campus events; discounts on insurance products; and use by alumni of campus assets at the library.

The goal is to stay connected with all our LPC "alums" by providing them with value, while encouraging their continuing engagement with the College.

 
Details of this new outreach effort are being developed. Stay tuned!

It happens at the start of every semester: students enroll in classes, but then drop out because they cannot afford the cost of textbooks. What's behind these numbers and what can be done?

The basic cost of a California community college education is rising dramatically. Two years ago, fees were $26 per unit. Soon they will be $46. While this is clearly a hardship for many students attending Las Positas College, compared to the UC and CSU systems - to say nothing about private institutions - the base cost of a community college education in California is a relative bargain for students wishing to prepare for transfer to a four-year institution or for those who want career technical instruction.

Unfortunately, the actual cost of attending LPC involves far more than per-credit costs, challenging though those may be. The full cost of a California community college education often includes expenses associated with child care, transportation, and lost work and family time. Far and away the most easily quantifiable additional cost is for supplies - principally textbooks. A single text often costs in excess of $100 and can exceed $400. Sadly, these "extra" costs can force some students to drop out of college. The good news is that the Las Positas College Foundation's Textbook Challenge provides funding for a "Loaner" program for students to borrow textbooks. Managed by the Associated Students of Las Positas College, the program started in the Fall Semester 2009 and today offers textbooks for a full semester's use for a fee of just $30 per text with a two book limit.

To date the Foundation's Textbook Challenge has raised $80,000 to support the loaner program. The generosity of businesses and individuals in the Tri-Valley region represents an investment in the education of our students who will be the next generation of taxpaying business and civic leaders in the communities that LPC serves.