Navigating a route to college aid

As colleges begin sending out acceptance letters, high school seniors fretting about how to pay for school can learn about financial aid options at free workshops starting today.

Hundreds of volunteers will staff 35 multilingual Cash for College sessions across Los Angeles today and dozens more scheduled statewide until March 2, the deadline to apply for the California Student Aid Commission’s Cal Grant program.

Standing outside his alma mater, Roosevelt High School, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Friday that many low-income or minority students do not attend college because they assume they cannot afford tuition.

Also, the paperwork for the Free Application for Student Aid can be daunting, Villaraigosa said. The application, known as the FAFSA, must be completed in order to apply for the Cal Grant, which offers up to $9,700 annually to each student who is a California resident with at least a 2.0 grade-point average.

Last year, 299,000 students received $800 million in Cal Grants, officials said. More than 90% of grant recipients re-enroll for a second year.

Students and their families should bring financial documents such as tax returns, W-2 forms and bank and investment records in order to receive step-by-step instructions on how to fill out scholarship applications.

Workshop locations can be found at www.lacashforcollege.org or www.calgrants.org or by calling (888) 224-7168.

One student from each workshop who fills out an evaluation and completes a Cal Grant application will win a $1,000 scholarship, with 550 given out throughout the state, officials said.

The workshops have been offered statewide for six years and are sponsored locally by several organizations, including the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

Wearing a Cash for College T-shirt, Santa Monica College student Blanca Morales, 18, told a group of Roosevelt students that completing the financial aid forms last year seemed impossible until she attended a workshop.

“I was not sure if college was possible to me,” she said. “But it’s up to you guys to take advantage of the resources . . . so you guys can become the great leaders of tomorrow.”

Morales, who graduated in the top 5% of her class at Los Angeles High School and hopes to transfer to Cal State Dominguez Hills, said she received $2,500 from the program last year and $3,500 more when she became a student spokeswoman.

After 250 students and parents participated in a Cash for College workshop at Roosevelt last year, 510 seniors applied for the Cal Grant, up from 300 students the year before, said Loretta H. Hultman, a counselor.

Some of the school’s students, such as senior Juan Hernandez-Campos, 17, are undocumented immigrants who are not eligible for funds through FAFSA or the state, she said. The workshops will also explore sources for private funding.

Hernandez-Campos said he dreams of studying chemical engineering at Harvard, but also applied to nearly 20 other schools across the country. He is planning to visit Loyola Marymount University, one of two schools he has been accepted into, to fight for a full scholarship.

“The amount of money I get decides where I go to college,” he said. “Especially in Latino areas, going to college is the only way to move forward, to help the community get better.”

tiffany.hsu@latimes.com