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Associated Students Inc. Senate called for financial support on Wednesday’s for students ages 17 to 24 who do not qualify for the federal stimulus check.
The resolution, authored by Sen. Jireh Deng, looks to advocate for those students whose parents claimed them as dependents for tax purposes and are not eligible for the federal stimulus checks.
“This resolution is written encouraging our state, federal and local legislators to really focus on what they can be doing to support those students and young people who are excluded from the CARES Act and making sure that we bring awareness to this issue,” Deng said.
Deng said ASI President Lizbeth Velasquez, co-sponsor of the bill, brought the issue to her attention.
The text of the resolution points out that in the CARES Act students under the age of 24 receiving financial aid under FAFSA are considered dependent, even if they do not receive financial support from their parents.
Deng also discussed the school receiving $41 million as part of the CARES Act and half of it will go to student emergency financial aid grants, which are separate from the federal stimulus checks.
However, she said that it is not enough.
“If it were divided evenly amongst every single student that attends our school, we would still each only be receiving around like $570, so there’s a lot that needs to still be done,” Deng said.
At the previous meeting, Sen. Citlalli Ortiz raised concern that undocumented students aren’t included in the student emergency financial aid grants.
Sen. Stephany Triska seconded her opinion adding international students to the list of those who did not qualify for any kind of financial aid to begin with.
Deng said that she added language to include those students in the revision of the resolution.
The motion passed 17-2-0 on its second reading.
“I think it will be really helpful for those populations that are not directly benefiting from these kinds of grants,” Triska said.
