By Mark Muckenfuss

Several students with children are expected to benefit from a recent $20,000 grant from continuing CSU Monterey Bay donor Debbie Juran. 

Juran, a wealth management specialist and CSUMB Foundation board member, gave $80,000 to the university in 2019 to support more than 100 students whose college careers were in jeopardy over financial pressures.  

Joanna Snawder-Manzo, a care manager in the Office of Student Life, said Juran approached her a few weeks ago about giving more. 

“She decided to focus on housing because there is other funding for food,”  Snawder-Manzo said, referring to the on-campus pantry and the bi-weekly food-bank truck that provides free produce through the Basic Needs program. “She said she wanted to fund a group of students through the semester, paying for their housing. She wanted to know what our most urgent needs were.” 

Student-parents quickly came to mind for Snawder-Manzo. Such students are not able to use campus housing where they would have a roommate with whom they could split their monthly rent.

“One of the challenges for these parents is the cost of housing,” she said. “If they’re a single parent, it can be very expensive.”

Snawder-Manzo said Juran was a single parent herself and struggled with housing insecurity at one point in her life. 

“The idea of helping these parents really kind of moved her,” Snawder-Manzo said. 

“How can you not do something?” Juran said. “I’m doing what I can.”

A two-term board member for the Foundation of CSUMB, Juran said she feels closely tied to the school. Both of her daughters graduated from CSUMB.

“I love the school,” she said. “I love what I see happening there. That first-generation story resonates with me.” 

Half of CSUMB students are the first in their families to attend college. Juran had the same experience. She came from a blue-collar family with roots in coal mining and steel work. But she and her siblings were pushed to attend college. 

She said she knows the kinds of struggles such students face. In her own case, she said, without a last-minute, unexpected grant of $500, she would not have finished her senior year at Bucknell University and graduated.

But even with that experience, when she heard in 2019 that there were homeless students at CSUMB, she was shocked.

“What really got to my heart and my soul,” she said, “was people trying to better themselves while living in their cars. I knew I had to do something, so I reached out.”

In addition to the funding she has earmarked for housing, Juran has also given $10,000 to establish the Beyond Tomorrow fund for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. The fund will help students who are working unpaid internships during school breaks. 

Snawder-Manzo said Juran’s latest donation will help four or five student-parents with housing this fall. 

“The students I’m thinking of are single parents in a master’s program with an internship, many of which are required but are unpaid,” Snawder-Manzo said. “I’m also thinking of students who have children [with] special needs. If those students don’t have to worry about paying rent, then maybe they can afford the upkeep on a car to get their children to appointments.” 

Either way, she said, it’s much-needed assistance.

“I’m so excited,” Snawder-Manzo said. “I really think this is a great development.”

Students can apply by emailing basicneeds@csumb.edu or by making an appointment with the case manager using the Basic Needs 1:1 appointment button.