Financial Struggles

One of Chris's biggest struggles is being able to support himself financially.  Chris has an on campus job, but in order to balance being able to go home on the weekends and attend all of his classes he works in the union late at night.  He helps to clean up the union and close it down.  He doesn't get out of work until 3am, and has been working almost every night picking up others' shifts in order to save up money.  Chris still doesn't understand the financial aid process and can't currently identify anyone who can support him through this process or who he feels comfortable enough to approach.  Chris has made some friends and from time to time they causally talk about financial aid.  Chris is under the impression that his friends receive more financial aid than he does, but doesn't know why and believes it would be rude to bring it up with them.

Latinos Said to Lag in Getting Student Aid

According to Karen Fischer (2005), "The report, 'How Latino Students Pay for College,' which is the first to break out participation rates of Latino students in financial-aid programs, says that Latino students received an average financial-aid award of $6,250 in 2003-4, compared with an average award of $6,890 for all students. Asian students received the largest awards, an average of $7,260, according to the report, which was published by Excelencia in Education and the Institute for Higher Education Policy" (para 2).
While the amount of aid Latino students receive may be smaller they are more likely to apply for financial aid, and 63% of Latino students do receive financial assistance (Fischer, 2005).  Still, in the end the article pin points the idea that Latino students need to become more educated about the financial aid process, and suggest that colleges review data in order to better serve and meet the needs of Latino students (Fischer, 2005).