Students relying on the Device Loan Program must now meet a financial need requirement to check out a computer, and they can only borrow it for two weeks.
In the past, students would sign a consent form online, providing their contact information and student ID. After, they would present it to their campus librarian to receive a device that they could keep for the semester.
“There really weren’t any restrictions there,” said NW Campus Dean of Learning Commons Eric Camarillo. “There weren’t any fines or fees or anything associated with those, even if the device was never returned.”
Now, students must fill out an online application for the Student Empowerment Center.
“Students are required to work through the Student Empowerment Center to be approved for a device before they can check one out,” Camarillo said. “Students are typically restricted now to two weeks per semester.”
Candy Center, South Campus dean of Learning Commons, said the college’s leadership team focused on how to organize all the resources it provides to students.
“What the team is looking at is financial need,” Center said. “So, if they determine that the student does not have financial need, then they wouldn’t be eligible for that resource because we want to be able to support our students that have the greatest need.”
Camarillo said Learning Commons doesn’t know what criteria the Student Empowerment Center is looking for to make a student eligible, but by filling out the application, the center can determine all the resources available to a student beyond just the Device Loan Program.
“Our goal is to make this a little easier process for students,” Center said. “The difference is the Student Empowerment Center is then responding, giving you a tailored response within 24 to 48 hours to say, ‘This is how we can help you.’”
The center doesn’t have offices available for students on campus. If a student wants to review the center’s response with a staff member, they must call to make an appointment, and one will be sent to their campus to meet.
Center said the college has developed the Student Empowerment Center into a one-stop shop for students needing access to resources.
“That’s really been the shift. Rather than saying, ‘Do you need x?’ The college is working to say, ‘How can we support you as a student?’” Center said.
She said the college began working with the Information Center, Financial Aid and Student Affairs offices to timely inform faculty, staff and students of their upcoming plan.
“December 4, our district student affairs office began communicating with students that were going to be impacted with this change,” Center said. “To let them know in advance, so that they’re not walking onto campus seeing there’s a change to the program.”
TR library manager Stephanie Weinman said the online form went live on Aug. 15, but the library wasn’t a part of any of the decision-making.
“I just put the sign out today,” Weinman said on Aug. 20, referring to the Student Empowerment Center’s informational flyer with a QR code on it.
The QR code loads the application where a student puts their full name, TCC ID and email. From there, it asks what aid a student is looking for and how many credit hours they’re enrolled in.
NE student Leon Lankford wasn’t told of the program’s changes until a week before the first day of class.
“Really? That’s kind of insane,” he said. “There was no email saying, ‘new update with the Device Loan Program.’”
Lankford has checked out a computer every semester since he started at TCC in 2023.
“A good chunk of most of the people in my classes I’ve taken use them,” he said. “It definitely will affect a lot of people because most people can’t do homework or anything without it.”
He said he wouldn’t be severely impacted by the changes, but as a part-time worker during the semester, he knows it will be a struggle for other students.
He explained how most jobs require student workers to provide a detailed schedule of when they can work at least two weeks to a month in advance of the start of the semester.
“They probably already planned out what they do. ‘I go to class at 11 o’clock, I get out at 3:30, I work 4 o’clock to 10, then I can work on my homework from 10 to midnight,’” Lankford said.
He said students uninformed of the program’s changes will now have to request a new schedule from their employer that may not go into effect until a month later.
“I’m kind of disappointed because they never really reached out to people,” Lankford said. “I guess they just looked at the numbers and [did] not see what the people think about it.”
Last semester he said he forgot to return the black bag his laptop came in. The library sent him an email five hours after returning the computer to remind him he must return the bag, or he’d be fined.
Center said the Student Empowerment Center can help students who aren’t approved for the Device Loan Program by guiding them on how to use their financial aid.
“It would have been nice to use the program and not have to spend the money I have saved for other things, like the new car I kind of need,” Lankford said. “But now I have to use the money I got from FAFSA and the extra money from work to buy a laptop.”
