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José Luis Bedolla and Lisa García Bedolla, two alumni of the University of California – Berkeley, have awarded the Miguel and Elvira Bedolla Scholarship to support undocumented students at UC Berkeley.
The scholarship is named after Bedolla’s parents who supported him while he himself was an undocumented student on campus.
They have committed to pay $100,000 to endow the scholarship, which will be paid out over time, with the payout beginning once they reach $50,000 of the endowment.
According to Ricardo Fouster, campus corporate and foundation relations officer, the endowment will provide scholarships to undocumented campus students who are “enrolled full time and meet the university’s academic and financial need criteria.”
via DailyCal.org:
The fund was established in December 2016. So far only one student has received the scholarship. García Bedolla did not disclose the student recipient in order to protect their undocumented status. The couple has paid an additional $500 this year in order to immediately support the student, according to García Bedolla.
“How many students you can help depends on the size of the endowment,” García Bedolla said. “We hope people will give to the scholarship so that we can help more students.”
According to Fouster, the scholarship will expand to include two scholarships ranging from $800 to $1,000 awarded annually. This may, however, vary depending on the performance of the endowment principal — or seed money.
Bedolla, who is also a campus professor of education and political science, said she sees many students looking for help accessing financial aid but that undocumented students are often barred from accessing these resources.
“We wanted to support those students we feel are in most need on campus — undocumented students,” Bedolla said.
