Having the financial means to get through college may not be an
issue for some students, but for Edna Cordova, getting to
graduation meant finding the money for school.
Cordova spent her five years at UCLA working two jobs and
accepting financial aid offers.
At the same time, she attended classes to fulfill her double
major in international development studies and sociology while
fitting in a social life as well.
She and her older brother, also a UCLA graduate, were the first
in their family to attend college.
“Both of my parents are immigrants so I think in part, we
both wanted success to pay back our parents for the work (they did)
to come here,” Cordova said.
Cordova’s mother is an elderly caregiver whose wages are
insubstantial to support her children’s college careers.
For a while, Cordova’s father was out of work, and she had
to support him as well as herself.
Currently, she is in the process of helping her younger brother
get through school, and has given her mother some monetary
support.
The time and effort involved in working her way through college
was nothing compared to what she saw her parents go through every
day, Cordova said.
Her father lost his job and her mother was paid poverty-level
wages, she said.
“I work hard at everything, but at the same time they
suffer more … and they don’t even get praised for the work
that they do,” she said.
Cordova’s family and friends give her emotional support
““ something that is as vital as monetary aid.
Cordova’s brother assisted her with figuring out how
financial aid works, and by helping her with classes he had already
taken, as he shared Cordova’s major.
While her brother helped her with financial planning and
academics, Cordova’s friends contributed a sense of
understanding.
“A lot of my friends work, and their parents are also
lower-income or immigrant parents,” she said.
Cordova finds time for her friends and a social life, even as
she copes with school and work.
“I work hard and party hard,” she said.
Cordova’s efforts will extend into the next academic year
when she continues to the Graduate School of Education, also at
UCLA.
Getting financial aid and other financial institutions to pay
for her time in graduate school is one of her plans.
She will continue to receive financial aid, even if it means
becoming further indebted, Cordova said.
Her drive to go to graduate school is fueled not only by the
need to be successful enough to help her family, but also by her
plans for a future career.
Cordova wants to be the dean of a community college in order to
help immigrant students succeed academically.
“I don’t think, as immigrant students and as people
from poor communities, they get the advantages as far as the
educational background they have, and I’d like to develop a
program that helps them academically,” she said.