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On July 18th, UC Berkeley announced a new "Cancellation for Non-Payment Policy." This policy stated that students were required to pay at least 20% of their tuition by August 19th (giving them one month to do so), or they will be dropped from all of their classes ONE DAY before classes start on August 24th.
Financial aid is supposed to be dispersed today, August 15th (giving students 4 days to meet the new policy requirements). However, financial aid for many students is often dispersed late. Many undocumented/DACA-receiving students have to wait anywhere from a few weeks to several months before they receive their disbursements, making this policy especially unjust and disadvantaging to these students.
My friend, Luis, has been working full-time all summer as a union organizer for the AFSCME and Harvard Law School Union Scholars Program.
This policy was announced a month ago, but luckily Luis had saved enough from working to afford the 20% of tuition for California residents. On the morning he was going to pay the 20% to ensure he wasn't dropped from his classes, he learned that because of his A.B. 540 status he is considered an out-of-state student, having to pay now $4,019 instead of the resident $1,350, despite having lived in San Diego his whole life.
Luis transferred to UC Berkeley from San Diego Community College and has completed one year at UC Berkeley, joining Students for Sensible Drug Policy, working for the Ethnic Studies Library, organizing to insource campus workers and to get a union contract.
He has also continued work he began at SDCC such as being a published writer for El Coyote Crossing Borders, writing and performing poems and songs on and off campus, serving as a member of Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales, Raíces sin Fronteras, He has been invited to several cities across the United States to attend union conferences, to the United Nations in New York, and last semester was invited to participate in a fellowship in Palestine.
Luis became one of my best friends at Berkeley, inspiring me and everyone who knows him to be critical, active, humble, and to challenge ourselves to put understanding, love, and action behind our words.
Luis has 5 days to come up with $2,000 and so I have created this gofundme page to try and help in any way a person who is always serving those around him. I would greatly appreciate any support you believe you could contribute.
Financial aid is supposed to be dispersed today, August 15th (giving students 4 days to meet the new policy requirements). However, financial aid for many students is often dispersed late. Many undocumented/DACA-receiving students have to wait anywhere from a few weeks to several months before they receive their disbursements, making this policy especially unjust and disadvantaging to these students.
My friend, Luis, has been working full-time all summer as a union organizer for the AFSCME and Harvard Law School Union Scholars Program.
This policy was announced a month ago, but luckily Luis had saved enough from working to afford the 20% of tuition for California residents. On the morning he was going to pay the 20% to ensure he wasn't dropped from his classes, he learned that because of his A.B. 540 status he is considered an out-of-state student, having to pay now $4,019 instead of the resident $1,350, despite having lived in San Diego his whole life.
Luis transferred to UC Berkeley from San Diego Community College and has completed one year at UC Berkeley, joining Students for Sensible Drug Policy, working for the Ethnic Studies Library, organizing to insource campus workers and to get a union contract.
He has also continued work he began at SDCC such as being a published writer for El Coyote Crossing Borders, writing and performing poems and songs on and off campus, serving as a member of Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales, Raíces sin Fronteras, He has been invited to several cities across the United States to attend union conferences, to the United Nations in New York, and last semester was invited to participate in a fellowship in Palestine.
Luis became one of my best friends at Berkeley, inspiring me and everyone who knows him to be critical, active, humble, and to challenge ourselves to put understanding, love, and action behind our words.
Luis has 5 days to come up with $2,000 and so I have created this gofundme page to try and help in any way a person who is always serving those around him. I would greatly appreciate any support you believe you could contribute.
Organizer and beneficiary
Luis López Resendiz
Beneficiary