Student government works to relieve student financial burden
By Melanie Arias, September 1, 2026
Associated Students Inc.’s Board of Directors proposed a parking pass grant program Aug. 28 at the first meeting of the fall 2026 semester.
The parking pass grant program, which will allow students to apply for a grant that will help pay for a parking pass, is a part of ASI’s 2026–27 action plan draft. This will be in cooperation with CPP’s Care Center, ASI President Alejandra Sanchez said, though discussions are still in progress.
Sanchez and ASI Vice President Kimora-Aoki Morley discussed the program with Parking and Transportation Services. Morley said PTS was “pretty open and welcoming to the idea,” as well as “appreciative of student input.”
“We’ve met with university leadership about the feasibility of it,” Sanchez said. “It is very feasible. I’m really excited to announce that.”
Sanchez said ASI is looking into ways to help students who owe thousands of dollars in parking citations to ease their financial burden.
ASI also proposed academic access for international students, which will mean working with the Academic Senate to make a policy change to ensure international students won’t have to worry about their visa status if they are unable to get into classes required for full-time status.
According to the International Students and Scholars Office, international students with F –1 or J – 1 visa are required to enroll and complete full-time enrollment, 12 or more credits, to maintain valid non-immigrant student status.
“We’re going to be working with our cabinet members, like our officer of advocacy, to export priority registration for those students, so that the administrative process doesn’t jeopardize their academic progress or status,” Sanchez said.
Furthermore, The Board of Directors action plan draft includes three pillars: consistency, advocacy and enhancement.
According to Morley, the goal of the first pillar, consistency, is to show the inner workings of ASI. This includes making recap videos of ASI meetings for students, which will be posted on social media, Sanchez said.
“We just appointed our PR officer,” Sanchez said. “So hopefully within the next two weeks, we can have our first video rolling out.”
Within the second pillar, advocacy, Sanchez said ASI wants to explore options like grocery shuttles to answer the question, “How do students access affordable, healthy foods beyond what campus provides?”
“We’re looking at how we can give students access to the Target or Aldi near campus,” Sanchez said.
Students can take Foothill Transit Line 194 for a 15 minute ride to get to Aldi, and students get Foothill Transit Class Pass free through CPP.
Sanchez said ASI is also exploring partnerships to give students access to tools they need to cook, along with meal prep demonstrations to teach students how to eat healthy.
“We don’t just want this action plan to be a pretty document,” Sanchez said. “We want to be able to come back to it at the end of the year and point out tangible things that are different.”
College of English and Integrative Studies Senator Destiny Vasquez advocated for transfer students during the action plan and international students’ discussion to see what ASI can do for them.
“I know their time here can be very limited,” Vasquez said. “They have a lot of support in their first year, but I feel like as they go on, there is not much support for transfer students.”
Additionally, ASI voted and approved the appointment of Patric Bello as Attorney General.
The next ASI Board of Directors meeting is at 11 a.m. Sept. 4 in the England Evans room in the Bronco Student Center or through Zoom.
