
03/28/2025
Financial aid for students in California extended
A national briefing was conducted by the Ethnic Media Services (EMS) on February 27, 2025 to spotlight the recent extension of the state financial aid deadline to April 2, 2025 and its importance for California students while ensuring that all eligible students have equitable access to apply for financial aid and make higher education more affordable.
Dubbed Extending Access to Financial Aid – Helping California Students Succeed and in partnership with California Student Aid Commission the briefing covered critical updates on financial aid deadlines, discuss the impact of the Better Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) delays, and highlight partnerships with educational institutions to increase accessibility for underrepresented communities.
Those who spoke at the briefing moderated by EMS executive director Sandy Close were California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) Executive Director Dr. Daisy Gonzales, CSAC Chair Catalina Cifuentes, CSAC Commissioner Keiry Saravia, and University of California Associate Vice Provost for Student Financial Support Shawn Brick
Dr. Gonzales impressed on the importance of sharing that financial aid for California students is about belonging in higher education and that a deadline extension is about equity in higher education.
“The California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) is a state agency and it is responsible for administering state aid for students across all segments of public higher education that includes students pursuing associate degrees, baccalaureate degrees, graduate education, and career technical education and vocational schools,” Gonzales explained. “Our mission remains to make higher education more accessible and more affordable for California students thus offer students a key to open the door to higher education.”
Gonzales added that by completing a financial aid application, students qualify for scholarship grants, which are dollars that they do not have to pay back, work study programs and loans.
Gonzales added that students qualify for financial aid by completing either the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the California Dream Act Application (CADA) which is accessible to students, regardless of their documentation status or that of their family members, financial aid in time is what brings higher education within reach.
“We also know that right now there are a lot of mixed messages about the value of higher education what experts call the return on investment. And this has been growing since the pandemic and with increasing costs for higher education. There is also the increased fear and anxiety due to ongoing news from Washington, DC, which is informing our students and their families about their choices and their future perspective including eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, executive orders freezing federal funding and increasing immigration enforcement efforts. All these things impact all our students and families here in California,” detailed Gonzales.
CSAC Chair Cifuentes is also the executive director of College and Career Readiness in Riverside County Office of Education and serves over 420,000 K-12 students in Riverside County with 23 school districts which is larger than thirteen states in the United States and also have about over 30,000 senior high school seniors every year dealing with a very high population of students that are first generation.
“Lumina Foundation did research on twenty-five metropolitan regions in the state and Riverside County, even though we have a high number of adults living in this county, we have a very one of the lowest college-educated adult population in the United States. With that, we do have a high volume of students that are first in their family to go to college,” Cifuentes shared.
CSAC Commissioner Saravia who is in junior at California State University Northridge studying to become an English teacher to be able to go to law school and plans to become an immigration and criminal lawyer.
“I am also a first-generation student that was born and raised in Los Angeles to two immigrant parents who immigrated from El Salvador to Los Angeles and have stayed in the exact same area since the day I was born,” Saravia disclosed. “And I'm also a Cal Grant recipient. Without financial aid like the Cal Grant, I don't know if I would even be in the position I am right now. Financial aid is the biggest reason as to why I'm able to attend the CSU I'm currently at and with two younger sisters in mind to think about, it was really tough decision to figure out whether college was an option for me and whether I was ever going to be able to make it.”
Saravia admitted that because of the financial aid she was able to receive, she was able to focus on her studies and was able to put aside a lot of it to be able to go to law school and pay for some of it as well as help with a few minor basic need expenses.
Saravia laments that the biggest issue confronting students not wanting to apply for financial aid is the fact that they don't really know as they are getting a lot of misinformation about whether they will be eligible again, whether it's even feasible, whether their information is going to be safe in a very predominantly Hispanic community.
Burke, an Associate Vice Provost for Student Financial Support at the University of California, an institution dedicated to providing equitable access to higher education for all Californians talked about the deadline extension including how it plays out at University of California (UC), apart from reaffirming UC's values on inclusion and belonging and their commitment to affordable higher education and even encouraged students and families to explore all the great educational opportunities in California.
“There are lots of opportunities in the State of California and our state supports students. The University of California has moved our own financial aid priority filing deadline to match the state of California. Our websites have been updated, and our social media feeds are also announcing the extension deadline and that means that students who meet the state's deadline will also be considered for all the full range of University of California financial aid,” assured Burke.
Burke also wants to reaffirm that the University of California is committed to its values of inclusiveness and belonging as UC President Michael Drake has said and is committed to ensuring that UC campuses benefit from the talents and aspirations of all as they create a vibrant workforce for future generations.
“We also are very committed to affordability for Californians. Students and families hear a lot in the media these days about student debt and about rising tuition. But the reality is that nearly two thirds of California undergraduates last year graduated debt-free from the university,” Burke divulged.
Captions:
Daisy Gonzales
Catalina Cifuentes
Keiry Saravia
Shawn Brick