Apply for financial aid.

During a Wednesday, Oct. 8, event at San Bernardino Valley College, they launched the Cash for College campaign.

It aims to encourage students and their parents to fill out financial aid paperwork through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or the California Dream Act Application.

The event organized by the California Student Aid Commission, the San Bernardino Community College District and KVCR Public Media  brought together local educators — and mascots from Inland colleges and universities.

“We know it’s getting harder to save for college and many families feel they haven’t saved enough,” Diana Rodriguez, the district’s chancellor said, according to a news release. “Financial aid is here to help, especially for working and middle-class families.”

Last year, about 44,000 Inland Empire high school seniors  — 7 in 10  —  applied for aid, but 3 in 10 missed out, the release states.

“That means thousands of families left money on the table,” said Angel Rodriguez, a member of the commission and a San Bernardino college district associate vice chancellor. “Cash for College is how we change that and make sure every family knows help is here.”

To locate free in-person or online workshops and guidelines on applying, students and families can visit IECashForCollege.org or CSAC.ca.gov.

The application period began Wednesday, Oct. 1, and has a priority deadline of March 2.

Families also can call the California Student Aid Commission at 888-224-7268.

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Awards range from $1,000 to more than $5,000, with many scholarships being renewable. The application deadline is 5 p.m. April 15.

While scholarships are available for graduating high school seniors and current college students, undergraduate or graduate, adult re-entry students and students with financial needs — including middle-income families — can apply.

Students attending community colleges or career/technical schools or four-year universities are also encouraged to apply.

A diverse range of scholarships is available.

Qualifications include: a minimum 2.0 GPA; a commitment to education, potential college success; participation in community service, extracurricular activities and/or work experience; being a current residence in San Bernardino or Riverside counties for at least one year; and demonstrating a need for assistance to pay for school.

Another significant requirement is to submit a completed FAFSA or CA Dream Act and Student Aid Report (SAR). IECF requires that information from all applicants.

Scholarship success stories abound.

In 2024, Kyra Boyle was a recipient of the Safe Schools Desert Cities Burton/May Pride Award. The unique award recognizes outstanding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning or intersex (LGBTQI) youth who have helped foster a positive self-image among other LGBTQI youth. The key scholarship factors included demonstrating participation, dedication and initiative.

“There are a lot of scholarships out there, and if a student is stressed about finances the way I was, I’d recommend reaching out to the college financial aid centers for guidance,” Boyle said of her process.

Then there’s IECF’s own board chair, Jesse Melgar. Determination drove Melgar’s college pursuits, but so did community support. He was able to secure $15,000 in scholarships, including one from IECF, which, at the time, was known as The Community Foundation.

Thanks to the funding, he was able to attend UCLA, where he became the first in his family to graduate from college.

Flash forward several years, and Melgar went on to earn a full-ride scholarship for his master’s degree at UC Riverside. A return to the Inland Empire followed, along with a big push to give back.

In addition to serving as IECF’s Board Chair, Melgar is also the founder of the CIELO Fund, which has been instrumental in uplifting Latino-led organizations and initiatives in the region.

Learn more at iegives.org/students/overview.

The Inland Empire Community Foundation works to strengthen Inland Southern California through philanthropy. Visit iegives.org.

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Immediate and conditional admission will be offered to high school seniors who are on track to meet college preparatory courses before they have even started their application process.

The pilot, launched in partnership with the Riverside County Office of Education and the CSU, expects to admit 12,000 to 10 different CSU campuses by way of a brochure that has been mailed to their homes.

Then, students must use CaliforniaColleges.edu to select their preferred CSU campus and acceptance letters will be sent directly by the universities.

“We want students to know that the door to college opportunity is open to them, and to help relieve some of the stress and uncertainty about applying for college,” said April Grommo, the university system’s vice chancellor of enrollment. “Riverside County is an excellent location for this first-ever program for the CSU, as it is ethnically and economically representative of the diversity of California, and many of the students the CSU is so proud to serve.”

Here are the campuses available for the pilot:

• San Bernardino
• Channel Islands
• Chico
• East Bay
• Humboldt
• Maritime Academy
• Monterey Bay
• San Francisco
• San Marcos
• Sonoma.

When students receive admittance, they must continue to meet A-G requirements to graduate high school. Once the official acceptance letter is granted by their university of choice, students should confirm their intent to enroll by the given campus deadline.

Here’s how students can apply for financial aid: Submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the California Dream Act Application (CADAA) no later than the deadline, which has always been March 2. But, the sooner the better.

“As one of the fastest growing regions in California, the need for college-educated professionals will continue to soar, and this partnership will remove barriers to higher education, welcoming more college-ready students to the CSU system through this innovative direct admission program,” said Edwin Gomez, Riverside County superintendent of schools.

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Citlali Lopez, a second-year psychology student at Sacramento State, found out a few months ago she had $500 sitting in a California Kids Investment and Development Savings Program (CalKIDS) account. Although she’s been eligible to use the funds since she graduated high school in 2022, she had no idea until her sister, who works at a nonprofit that supports low-income students with scholarships and financial aid, told her to check her eligibility. Lopez was skeptical at first, but found she was eligible and registered her account.

“I was just really surprised that I was able to get some extra help,” she said.

Financial aid had been top of mind for her and guided her decision to go to Sacramento State. She plans on using the money to finish general education classes over the summer if financial aid will not cover it.

So who gets money? Under CalKIDS, all babies born in California receive a sum. Babies born between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023 received $25 deposits, and all babies born after July 1, 2023 receive $100 deposits.

As part of the program, all low-income first grade students receive a one-time deposit of $500. First-graders who are in foster care receive an extra $500 and homeless first-graders receive $500 more, totalling $1500 for some students. All the accounts are tax-free, and the money is invested whether or not families claim their accounts.

Additionally, the state spent $1.8 billion in the 2021-22 budget to provide a one-time deposit to all low-income students in grades 1 through 12 in 2022.

Yet, of the 4.3 million student accounts created, only 313,445 accounts have been claimed by families, meaning they have registered online and seen the amount in their accounts. Only 6.3 percent of newborn accounts have been claimed and 7.4 percent of student accounts have been claimed as of March 2024.

The state is slowly building awareness about college savings

CalKIDS is run by a three-person team led by Julio Martinez, the executive director of the Scholarshare Investment Board, an agency within the State Treasurer’s Office. It administers the state’s 529 college savings accounts, which allow families to invest money tax free to cover education related expenses in the future. The team is responsible for creating the accounts, notifying families about the accounts and explaining what CalKIDS can provide to families.

“With these programs, it takes time to kind of build brand awareness, and also to break down the skepticism that often exists when you get a letter in the mail that says you have free money,” Martinez said. CalKIDS staffers go to college fairs and financial aid nights and host online informational sessions to reach families and students.

The state allocated $22 million in the 2022 and 2023 budgets to market the program. In Los Angeles, Riverside, Fresno, and Sonoma counties, CalKIDS program info is sent to all families that request a birth certificate, according to Joe DeAnda, the director of communication at the State Treasurer’s Office. During the first three months of this year, registration in the newborn program has more than doubled, from 20,608 to 42,312 newborns.

In April, CalKIDS began targeting high school seniors, through social media, email and direct mail, according to DeAnda. By May, the number of claims among high school seniors increased by 74%. They have partnered with school districts, such as Hawthorne School District in Los Angeles County, where 87% of seniors have claimed their accounts.

Still, most of the funds for marketing CalKIDS remain unused. The 2023-24 California state budget reappropriated $8 million to CalKIDS for a statewide media campaign, and the Scholarshare Investment Board is currently soliciting proposals for marketing services, which were anticipated to start on April 1, but have not begun.

“If families are not aware of this program, then it’s not going to have the impact that we think it’s going to have,” Martinez said.

The fact that many families don’t start thinking about college until high school is one cultural obstacle that college savings programs like CalKIDS run up against, says Willie Elliott, a professor of social work and founder of the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion at the University of Michigan.

“So, we can’t expect that we put one of these programs in place, and, instantly, people get it and start functioning in that way,” Elliott said.

Elliott has helped develop state and local college savings programs in Pennsylvania, New York City and Washington, D.C. He says that enrollment is not the best measure of success of programs like CalKIDS, especially this early on in the program.

“What you have in place in California is the infrastructure and now you have to do the work of making communities aware,” Elliott said.

He suggests that creating a culture around college savings through programs like CalKIDs will lead to positive outcomes. Those include increased account enrollment, more family conversations about going to college, and generally less stress for families who will be hopeful for their children’s future.

The conversations about college are as important as the amount of money actually in the account, Elliott said. Elliott’s research has shown that low-income students with a college savings account are three times more likely to attend college and four times more likely to graduate than students without an account.

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The April 2 deadline to apply for the need-based Cal Grant and Middle Class Scholarship that California funds will be pushed by a month, giving students more time to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The Democratic governor’s move is the latest in a series of attempts across the country to blunt the impact of widespread issues with the new form — from processing delays to technical problems — which have drawn Republican fury on Capitol Hill and frustrated parents and students.

The extension will “help ensure more California students are able to complete the FAFSA, avail themselves of state Cal Grant or Middle Class Scholarship financial aid, and enable them to access the financial resources to begin fulfilling their dreams of achieving higher education,” said Democratic Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, who authored the bill.

The bill was fast-tracked through the state Legislature last week and backed by the state’s public university systems. It’s meant to help applicants who have so far been unable to fill out the FAFSA — especially students whose parents are undocumented who for months couldn’t complete the form due to technical glitches.

The U.S. Department of Education resolved the issue for families of mixed immigration status this month, but took another step backward last week when it announced it had made errors in calculating around 200,000 student aid offers.

The near-constant technical problems with the online form have caused such a significant dropoff in applications in California that the state student aid commission estimates as much as $100 million could be awarded to students who apply over the next month. The two state aid programs award more than $2 billion each year, supplementing federal scholarships like the Pell Grant.

California public universities had already given students at least two extra weeks, until May 15, to commit to attending as they await backlogged financial aid offers. Processing delays in Washington, D.C., have caused colleges to receive students’ financial information later than usual, prompting several other universities across the country to delay decision day to June 1.

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