Story and Photo Illustration by Hannah Kampitan, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Cypress College’s Charger Food Pass and Book Pass is expected to end due to an exhaustion of state emergency funding (under the CARE, CRSSA, and American Rescue Act) provided to Cypress from COVID.
Thousands of Cypress College students take advantage of the daily $12 allowance at the Charger Cafe and depend on the $100 flat fee for all class books under the Charger Book Pass. The two programs have been in effect since Fall 2023; the end of these two popular resources will cause students to pay out of pocket for food and books unless another grant is allocated.
In a Cypress College Associated Students (CCAG) general meeting on March 24, 2025, Access Account Director Emily Porter spoke on the statistics of the Charger Book Pass program. According to the CCAS public minutes, Porter stated, “11,000 students participated in the book pass [last year] with 427 unique books, 1.8 million dollars saved, 80.3% of students participating.”
Joseph Shonkwiler, co-advisor for Associated Students and Student Services Specialist, stated that the funding to sustain the food and book pass stemmed from emergency funding given during the COVID-19 pandemic: “the state provided a lot of emergency funding, kind of like an injection into the community college system, and other institutions as well…that puts a really huge financial burden on the institution and the district. It’s finding a balance of how we can still maintain effective services for students and offset the cost of what’s going to be incurred.”
According to the Cypress College website, the college received three rounds of emergency funding during COVID: under the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act), CRRSSA (Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act), and ARP (American Rescue Plan).
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Congress released CARES, which was signed into law under President Donald Trump. Over two trillion dollars were released nationwide to provide financial relief against the pandemic, but the portion of the money that went directly to colleges and institutions was under HEERF (Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund).
HEERF’s money distribution is displayed in Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act. According to that document, Cypress College was granted $7,147,934. However, in a statement on the Cypress College website, the college signed and submitted the Certification and Agreement form to the U.S. Department of Education, which requires them to comply with giving at least half of the money to students.
According to the Cypress College website, the institution intended to “use no less than 50 percent of the funds received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students.” Thus, $3,573,967 was awarded to 7,152 students as of November 18, 2020. That left exactly half to be used for the institution itself.
Then in December 2020, Congress enacted the second round of state funding, CRRSSAA (Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act), which gave even more money to students and the institution. The school made the same statement, intending to use no less than 50% of the funds received under CRRSAA’s HEERF II for students. Under Section 314(a)(1) of the CRRSSA, Cypress gave $4,000,359 to students and kept $4,000,359 for the institution.
The third and final round of funding came about: the American Rescue Plan (ARP) in March 2021. Cypress College received $27,708,018 from this grant. Just like their statement for CARES and CRRSSA, the college promised half of that 27 million to students, approximately $13,854,009.
Cypress College received a total of $21,428,335 from all three grants ($3,573,967 in March 2020 from CARES, $4,000,359 in December 2020 from CRRSSA, and $13,854,009 in March 2021 from ARP).
Though the college did not publicly state how the institution divided its end of the grants in those respective periods, Shonkwiler confirmed that the Charger Food and Book Pass took up a portion.
For more information on Cypress College’s statements on the grants and their distribution throughout all three rounds, visit their website here: link
