by Selen Ozturk

Although California Community Colleges are the nation’s largest higher education system, student aid is the reason many students can afford education at all.

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

Student aid  

“It’s not too late to go to college. $383 million in aid is available by September 3,” 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. “That deadline is a lifeline for students and for California’s ability to continue as a national leader in higher education for mixed-status families and immigrant students.”

There are 116 community colleges in California. Of the over two million students attending them, over 70 percent come from diverse ethnic backgrounds, with 48 percent identifying as Hispanic.

54 percent of all California students who qualify for financial aid — meaning that their annual income is below $40,000 — attend a community college in the state. 65 percent of California community college students come from Perkins Economically Disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Resources are available to help you — regardless of you or your family’s documentation status — cover tuition and costs like rent, food, transportation, books and even childcare,” said Gonzales.

Students who submit their application by September 3 are made eligible for all of the grants and scholarships available in California.

I’m living proof of the power of financial aid,” Gonzales continued. “As 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  Los Angeles Valley College at age 15. Later, I went to Mills College in Oakland, and then earned a Master’s and PhD at the University of California Santa Barbara.”

“I’ve dedicated my entire career to education, because of this gift,” she added. “There’s still money on the table, and it can make a difference as to whether students can afford their education.”

“I’m 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,” said Nancy Jodaitis.

“I want to make sure this message comes through loud and clear: Regardless of what happens at a national level, not that it won’t impact us, not that fear isn’t present, but California will continue to stand with immigrants, who have been such an integral part of our community and our state,” she added

In his 2022-2023 state budget, Governor Newsom established a goal for 70 percent of Californians to earn a post-secondary] college degree by 2030.

Immigrant and low-income community college students are key to achieving this goal. California community colleges serve 55 percent of the state’s DACA students, and over 50 percent of all California students qualify for free tuition at a community college through the aid available until September 3.

“Financial aid is not considered part of public charge,” Jodaitis explained. “Every public college and university in California has someone dedicated to supporting undocumented students at the school, and your information will not be shared.”

Student challenges and successes

“Without financial aid, I don’t think I could be I am now,” said Ivan Hernandez, president of Student Senate for California Community Colleges. “I 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’t have ways to support my education financially, so it was up to me to apply for aid.

“However, this year has been extremely frustrating and challenging for individuals from mixed status families such as myself to access higher education,” he continued.

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

“I’m the type of individual who usually gets their FAFSA application in a week or two after the application has opened,” — December 2023 for this academic year, said Hernandez. “But I just submitted my FAFSA last week. It was months and months of stress about how I was going to pay for college. I’d made it this far, I didn’t want to give up. I considered getting loans.”

“I constantly reached out to my institution, and FAFSA and I didn’t hear much back from them other than ‘We’re working on it,’” he continued. “But 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 … It actually was easier than the old form, but many students are struggling with the new language being used — even with translated forms, if specific words don’t translate well to other languages.”

FAFSA and CA Dream Act application help is available in multiple languages through CASC — including Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Armenian and Arabic — by way of resource sheets, online chat, email support under studentsupport@csac.ca.gov and phone support under (888) 224-7268.

“My parents, who never made it to middle school, always say to me, education is the only thing no one can take away from you,” said Hernández. “The California Community College system really changed my life.”

“Especially 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’s a lot of support available,” he continued. “It’s an investment in the betterment of yourself and your family.

“My message to students is: Sí se puede, sí se pudo, y siempre se podrá,” Hernandez added. “Regardless of challenges you encounter, you can do it, there is always a way.”Students can apply for aid online through FAFSA and CA Dream Act.

by Mexico News Daily

The Mexican government’s relationship with the United States Embassy in Mexico is “on pause,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday, five days after U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar voiced concerns about his proposed judicial reform.

López Obrador also told reporters at his morning press conference that the government was pausing ties with the Canadian Embassy in light of the Canadian ambassador’s remarks about the same proposal.

“How are we going to allow [Salazar] to opine that what we’re doing is wrong,” he said.

“We’re not going to tell him to leave the country, we’re not doing that, but we do have to read the constitution, which is like reading him the riot act,” López Obrador said.

He said that the government’s relationship with Salazar is “good, but on pause,” explaining that the suspension began immediately after the ambassador spoke out against his judicial reform proposal, which could be passed by Congress as soon as next month.

López Obrador — who would like to see the proposal passed before he leaves office on Oct. 1 — also said that Mexico’s relationship with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico is on pause, but the broader bilateral relation “continues.”

Nevertheless, he made it clear that he believes that Salazar was speaking on behalf of the U.S. government, not just himself, when he released his statement on the judicial reform last Thursday. López Obrador also asserted that the United States and Canada acted in concert.

In his statement last Thursday, Salazar said he believed that the “popular direct election of judges is a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy.”

“… I also think the debate over the direct election of judges … as well as the fierce politics if the elections for judges in 2025 and 2027 were to be approved, will threaten the historic trade relationship we have built, which relies on investors’ confidence in Mexico’s legal framework,” the ambassador added.

“Direct elections would also make it easier for cartels and other bad actors to take advantage of politically motivated and inexperienced judges,” Salazar said.

For his part Canadian Ambassador Graeme Clarke said in an interview published late last week that Canadian investors were concerned about the judicial reform proposal.

López Obrador announced last Friday that the government was sending diplomatic notes to both the United States and Canada in light of the ambassadors’ remarks.

Salazar subsequently said that “the concerns” he expressed about the direct election of judges were made in the “spirit of collaboration.”

He also said he was willing to engage in dialogue with Mexico’s leaders.

On Monday, López Obrador said that he and the U.S. ambassador — a semi-regular visitor to the National Palace — were going to give each other some “time” before reconvening.

The president claimed that the government of Canada acted in an “embarrassing” way by joining the United States’ protest against the judicial reform proposal.

“It looks like an associate state, [they acted] together,” he said.

“They wanted to interfere in matters that only correspond to Mexicans,” López Obrador added.

He said that the pause in the relationships with both the United States and Canadian embassies would continue until representatives of the two countries learned to respect the sovereignty of Mexico — which Salazar has stressed he does, including in an X post early Tuesday afternoon.

“We’re not going to give them advice nor say that this is good or this is bad,” López Obrador said, even though he has been critical of the U.S. government and Congress for not approving greater funding for regional development programs that could help reduce migration, and of the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

“We want them to be respectful — for there to be a reciprocal relationship with regard for respect for sovereignty,” the president said.

Opponents of the judicial reform proposal say that the direct election of judges from candidates nominated by the sitting president, the Congress and the judiciary itself threatens the independence of Mexico’s justice system. Judicial elections, in some cases, would coincide with political elections, a situation that critics believe could lead to politicization of the judiciary.

If the proposal is approved, all 11 justices of the Supreme Court — which has handed down rulings against the current government’s policies and projects — could be replaced next year.

If a majority of justices sympathetic to the agenda of incoming president Claudia Sheinbaum are elected to the Supreme Court, Sheinbaum’s capacity to enact — and maintain — policies that face legal challenges could be enhanced.

Approval of the judicial reform proposal is likely given that the ruling Morena party and its allies will have a supermajority in the lower house of Congress and a strong majority in the Senate.

The last straw?

Beyond Salazar’s statement about the proposed judicial reform, López Obrador has been irked by the United States’ funding of organizations he regards as opponents of his government.

Earlier this month, he once again railed against the United States government’s funding — via the U.S. Embassy in Mexico — of Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, an anti-graft group that has exposed alleged corruption in his administration.

“It’s outrageous … that a government that is a friend, a neighbor, is financing a group that opposes a legal, legitimate government. What’s that called? Interventionism,” López Obrador said Aug. 14 after announcing that he would send a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden to complain about the issue.

In light of Salazar’s remarks, the president reiterated that the federal government doesn’t accept “interference” in Mexico’s internal affairs.

“We don’t accept any representative of foreign governments intervening in matters that are solely up to us to resolve,” he said.

The Mexican government has also been less than satisfied with the information the U.S. government has provided about the arrests of alleged Sinaloa Cartel leaders Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López in New Mexico last month.

The Federal Attorney General’s Office said earlier this month that the United States Department of Justice had not provided a range of information it requested about the case.