College of Southern Nevada CSN CSN Discriminative Las Vegas Nevada
I applied for classes here, but the financial aid office wants to know if I entered the US illegally in order to determine if my story of why I failed to registered with Selective Service is true or false. In other words my prior legal status is how financial aid will determine if I am an honest person when telling my reasons of why I did not register with Selective Service. I am currently a US citizen, and I thought that my prior legal status should not matter anymore. Below is the email I received from financial aid, asking for my prior legal status. I took classes at other community colleges in California and I was never asked for the documents I was asked by CSN financial aid. My reasoning is that if all community colleges would ask for the same documentation then I would have no objection since it would be the same process, but it seems that here at CSN they have their own way of doing things. My opinion on this is that financial aid is coming from Federal Funds, and it's made available to the community college the student needs/wants to attend, so the requirements should be the same across all community colleges. When I mentioned this to the CSN people, they all seem to back up each other on the why of things. The feeling I got from them was that they are not making it easy for people to be able to attend a class and complete an education. In California when I was there, the financial aid office helped me fulfill all the requirements, and I was able to take many classes and completed my AA.
Financial aid at CSN seems in my case went too far asking for specific documentation no longer have within easy reach. I think this was discrimination, my opinion. I could not take a class because my financial aid was denied.
Good afternoon Mr. Lopez,
I have received the naturalization paperwork you have submitted in order to complete the requirements of resolving the Selective Service System registration issue on your account. I understand that your code of admission reflects that you received relief under NACARA and I need to understand more about how you entered the country. Did you enter with a nonimmigrant visa or did you apply for asylum after arriving in the US? Do you have a copy of your Arrival/Departure Record and/or I-94? Do you have a copy of your nonimmigrant visa or asylum application? If so, I will need for you to submit copies of that documentation in order to understand whether the preponderance of the evidence indicates that you did not willingly or knowingly fail to register for Selective Service prior to your 26th birthday. Thank you for your help Mr. Lopez,
Marco Matthews
College of Southern Nevada
Financial Aid Office
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Perhaps
#3Author of original report
Thu, July 14, 2016
Perhaps you should question your own roots and see where your family comes from. You will be surprised you might have hispanic blood, or native indian blood, or african american roots. Don't fee like you are special and take for granted what you have. Anybody who wishes to educate and better themselves should have the opportunity to become a better person. You don't know the circumtances of every person, and why or why not that person could not fulfill certain requirements. You mean to tell me that a person who for some reason did not fulfill a requirement should be ban for life from attending a community college? Is that your discriminative reasoning? Why did I become a US citizen and I was never asked to register for Selective Service? Do you have the answer? I pay taxes like everybody, and I have been doing so for last 22 something years, don't you think I should be able to attend school and educate myself? I have kept myself out of trouble and have no criminal record, why wouldn't I have access to education. I don't care who you are of why you think you can judge things you don't understand.
Robert
Irvine,California,
USA
Government...
#3Consumer Comment
Thu, July 14, 2016
Perhaps when you studied for your Citizenship tests you should have done a bit more research on this Country you want to be a Citizen of.
Selective Service Registration is a requirement for Federal Financial Aid. Also, several states have made SS registration a condition of receiving STATE financial aid. So this may be a shock to you but California and Nevada are two different states with different requirements.
finaid.org/students/selectiveservice.phtml
While you didn't come right out and say it. It seems very obvious that you were once in this country illegally. Perhaps I am wrong and you were totally legal and just weren't required due to your legal status. But eiither way you can't escape your history and there will be questions like this that come up.
Of course if you don't like our Government or the way it is run, then do what 90% of other Americans don't do...get involved with government and your local and federal officials getting them to change the rules. Of course there is always the option of going back to your birth country.