On July 18, 2024, a federal court issued a stay preventing the Department from operating the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan. Here’s what it means for borrowers:

• Forbearance: Borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan are being moved into forbearance. During forbearance, SAVE borrowers will not have to make payments. The time in forbearance will not count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness or Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) loan forgiveness. SAVE borrowers will not accrue interest on their loans during the forbearance. SAVE borrowers will be notified about their forbearance by their loan servicers.
• Bills and payments: Borrowers enrolled in the SAVE Plan who have received a bill for August are being put in an interest-free forbearance – payments are not required during forbearance. Borrowers enrolled in the SAVE Plan who have not yet received a bill for August will also be put in forbearance and therefore will not receive a bill.

For more details view the full announcement: Department of Education Updates on Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE Plan) | U.S. Department of Education

Depending on your household size and income, and which county you reside in, you may be eligible to receive up to $291 per month through the CalFresh program. This program issues monthly electronic benefits that can be used to buy most foods at many markets and food stores. Applying for the program is easy and takes only about 15 minutes at BenefitsCal.

We want to extend you an invitation to an online CalFresh Application Workshop, Tuesday, August 20th from 5:30pm to 6:30pm. Register for this event, which will be hosted on Zoom.

Staff from both the Student Financial Services office and the Student Success Center will be available to provide information on the CalFresh program as well as on-the-spot assistance with the online application.  

If you are unable to make it to the Calfresh Workshop, the Student Financial Servcies office will be having drop-in advising for CalFresh applications every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. through the Student Financial Services Virtual Front Desk.

The Federal Work Study Program (FWS) provides jobs for students with financial need, allowing them to earn money to help pay education expenses. If you are interested in Federal Work Study and what types of positions that are available, you can find all the details on our website Work-Study page.

Check the Campus Job Postings to see what positions are available on campus.

The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank would like to share a program that may be helpful to students with children who are receiving CalFresh benefits. 

• SUN Bucks (previously "Summer EBT") will be a $120/child lump sum benefit paid to qualifying families with children.  
• Many families with children in the below situations will receive it automatically (with automated texts, emails, and/or calls in English, Spanish, Cantonese, Russian, Arabic). 
  • Age 6-18 already on state benefits (CalFresh, CalWORKS, MediCal). 
  • Age 0-22 on Free & Reduced Priced Meals at qualifying schools (incl Headstart Programs & Transitional Kindergartens) during 2023-24 school year. 
  • Homeless, foster, or part of migrant household. 
  • Other families can "apply" (i.e. have forms on record) with their school. 
• Funds are distributed via a separate (but very similar) EBT card, which will be mailed starting in June and through late fall to the address they have on-file for state benefits. Funds expire 122 days from the load date. They can be replaced in the event of a disaster but not if they were skimmed. 
• CDSS seems to be the recommended go-to for help & program details, and they will have a dedicated call center for SUN Bucks starting 5/28.