Loyola Marymount University student representatives met with state legislators in Sacramento on March 12 to lobby for the continued renewal of Cal Grants.

The Cal Grant program is a state financial aid initiative aimed at low-income students. The state announced a 30-day delay of Cal Grants in February 2009, affecting mostly incoming freshmen and transfer students for whom schools have yet to report the need for funding. Last March, two students traveled to the capital to thank legislators for restoring the maximum Cal Grant award to $9,078.  This year, sophomores Julianna Herrera ’11 and Nerissa Irizarry ’11 spoke to state legislators about the importance of Cal Grants to LMU students. 

Herrera works with students in the Financial Aid Office, and feels honored to continue this LMU legacy of lobbying for student financial aid. “I am very excited and feel very privileged to have been chosen to speak for students like me at the state capitol,” Herrera said.

She added, “I hope to have our voices heard, those of us students able to attend LMU as a direct result of state and federal aid. Perhaps the stories of all the students who will be attending the Cal Grant Day will remind these decision-makers just how invaluable this aid is to each of us and how, without it, we would not be able to attend LMU.”