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Leaders play CHESS

By Natalie Garcia
The Collegian

Fresno State student leaders impressed top state legislators, including Senator Dean Flores and Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, convincing them to co-author a piece of legislation that would allow more students to apply for financial aid.

The lobbying of state lawmakers was part of the 11th annual California Higher Education Student Summit, which was held in Sacramento from March 3 to March 6. CHESS is the only leadership summit specifically for CSU students.

A delegation of 15 Fresno State students attended, and said they believe this year’s summit was especially successful.

“Fresno State was the most successful delegation in gathering support for the bill,” Juan Pablo Moncayo, vice president of Associated Students, said.

The bill, AB2813, is designed to help ease the age cap for students applying for financial aid through Cal Grant A, which limits the applicants by having to apply 18 months out of high school or be under the age of 24.

“The majority of the money doesn’t fit the needs of the CSU system,” Moncayo said, citing that the average age of a CSU student is 23.

CSU students are lobbying to change the age cap to 27 and remove the graduation date restriction.

“If the bill were to pass, the financial aid would match up with who the students are,” Moncayo said.

At the summit, the Fresno State delegation also lobbied to state leaders to fight a budget cut that would eliminate $7 million for outreach programs designed to inform students who traditionally would not attend college about the CSU system and how to apply.

“The CSU system is really the people’s university,” said AS president Jennifer Reimer, who is also president of the California State Student Association. “It’s really important to reach out to underrepresented groups.”

Fresno, with its rural outlying towns, has benefited from these programs to get information to potential students through visits to high schools and information seminars about how to apply to a CSU and for financial aid.

“I’m very passionate about it,” said Vianey Nuñez, one of CHESS’s organizers and AS Speaker Pro Tem “I come from Cutler-Orosi. It’s pretty much an economically depressed community. Lots of people live at the poverty level. When I was growing up these were normal conditions. But you get a higher education and you realize that it’s not normal.”

Nuñez is also lobbying on behalf of SB160, a bill that will allow illegal immigrants to apply for financial aid.

The bill is authored by Senator Gilbert Cedillo and endorsed by CSSA. Cedillo has personally asked Nuñez to write a letter to President Welty to endorse SB160 and to collect signatures on campus to garner support.

Attendees of the summit want students to know that lobbying and advocacy for a cause is not only for professionals and politicians. Students can, and should, get involved the decision-making processes that will affect them directly.

“So many decisions are made at the state capital,” Moncayo said. “If you are constantly giving your opinions, they will think about you when they vote.”