{"id":66880,"date":"2024-08-23T11:22:51","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T18:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=66880"},"modified":"2024-08-23T11:22:51","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T18:22:51","slug":"aid-deadline-approaches-for-ca-community-college-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=66880","title":{"rendered":"Aid Deadline Approaches for CA Community College Students"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Although California Community Colleges are the nation\u2019s largest higher education system, student aid is the reason many students can afford education at all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Although California Community Colleges are the nation\u2019s largest higher education system, student aid is the reason many students can afford education at all.<\/p>\n

This aid is available through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA<\/a>) and the California Dream Act Application (CADAA<\/a>) for the 2024-2025 academic year, but\u00a0 community college students must apply by Tuesday, September 3.<\/p>\n

Student aid<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not too late to go to college. $383 million in aid is available by September 3,\u201d said Dr. Daisy Gonzales, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC), at a Thursday, August 15 Ethnic Media Services briefing about student aid. \u201cThat deadline is a lifeline for students and for California\u2019s ability to continue as a national leader in higher education for mixed-status families and immigrant students.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are 116 community colleges in California. Of the over two million students attending them, over 70% come from diverse ethnic backgrounds, with 48% identifying as Hispanic.<\/p>\n

54% of all California students who qualify for financial aid \u2014 meaning that their annual income is below $40,000 \u2014 attend a community college in the state. 65% of California community college students come from\u00a0Perkins<\/a>\u00a0Economically Disadvantaged backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cResources<\/a>\u00a0are available to help you \u2014 regardless of you or your family\u2019s documentation status \u2014 cover tuition and costs like rent, food, transportation, books and even childcare,\u201d said Gonzales.<\/p>\n

Students who submit their application by September 3 are made eligible for all of the grants and scholarships available in California.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m living proof of the power of financial aid,\u201d Gonzales continued. \u201cAs a foster youth in Los Angeles, I received the incredible gift of a Cal Grant and a Chafee Foster Youth grant, which let me into\u00a0 Los Angeles Valley College at age 15. Later, I went to Mills College in Oakland, and then earned a Master\u2019s and PhD at the University of California Santa Barbara.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve dedicated my entire career to education, because of this gift,\u201d she added. \u201cThere\u2019s still money on the table, and it can make a difference as to whether students can afford their education.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still being contacted by undocumented students who are being told, both in high school and adult school and other places that college is not for them,\u201d said Nancy Jodaitis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make sure this message comes through loud and clear: Regardless of what happens at a national level, not that it won\u2019t impact us, not that fear isn\u2019t present, but California will continue to stand with immigrants, who have been such an integral part of our community and our state,\u201d she added<\/p>\n

In his 2022-2023 state budget, Governor Newsom established a goal for 70% of Californians to earn a post-secondary] college degree by 2030.<\/p>\n

Immigrant and low-income community college students are key to achieving this goal. California community colleges serve 55% of the state\u2019s DACA students, and over 50% of all California students qualify for free tuition at a community college through the aid available until September 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinancial aid is not considered part of public charge,\u201d Jodaitis explained. \u201cEvery public college and university in California has someone dedicated to supporting undocumented students at the school, and your information will not be shared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student challenges and successes<\/h2>\n

\u201cWithout financial aid, I don\u2019t think I could be I am now,\u201d said Ivan Hernandez, president of Student Senate for California Community Colleges. \u201cI was born in the U.S. but grew up in Mexico. I moved back for treatment after a leukemia diagnosis, and stayed to pursue higher education. My family didn\u2019t have ways to support my education financially, so it was up to me to apply for aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, this year has been extremely frustrating and challenging for individuals from mixed status families such as myself to access higher education,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

This year, even students as proactive as Hernandez are facing challenges that threaten their education \u2014 namely, FAFSA rollout delays and glitches with a new application form involving miscalculations to formulas used to determine aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the type of individual who usually gets their FAFSA application in a week or two after the application has opened,\u201d \u2014 December 2023 for this academic year, said Hernandez. \u201cBut I just submitted my FAFSA last week. It was months and months of stress about how I was going to pay for college. I\u2019d made it this far, I didn\u2019t want to give up. I considered getting loans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI constantly reached out to my institution, and FAFSA and I didn\u2019t hear much back from them other than \u2018We\u2019re working on it,’\u201d he continued. \u201cBut I reached out to CASC and they walked me through, one-on-one, how to fill out the form. It only took about two hours to get done \u2026 It actually was easier than the old form, but many students are struggling with the new language being used\u00a0\u2014 even with translated forms, if specific words don\u2019t translate well to other languages.\u201d<\/p>\n

FAFSA and CA Dream Act application help is available in multiple languages through\u00a0CASC<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 including Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Armenian and Arabic \u2014 by way of resource sheets, online chat, email support under\u00a0studentsupport@csac.ca.gov<\/a>\u00a0and phone support under (888) 224-7268.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents, who never made it to middle school, always say to me, education is the only thing no one can take away from you,\u201d said Hernandez. \u201cThe California Community College system really changed my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially among undocumented and non-traditional students working full-time and supporting dependents, I see a lot of fear in adjusting back to a classroom, or not having the time to ask for help in-person. But there\u2019s a lot of support available,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s an investment in the betterment of yourself and your family.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy message to students is: S\u00ed se puede, s\u00ed se pudo, e siempre te se pudra,\u201d Hernandez added. \u201cRegardless of challenges you encounter, you can do it, there is always a way.\u201dStudents can apply for aid online through\u00a0FAFSA<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0CA Dream Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BySelen Ozturk Aug 22, 2024 Although...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66881,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66880\/revisions\/66881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}