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Colorado State University Student To Discuss Financial Aid Programs With President Clinton

Wednesday, January 8, 1997

Note: Valerie Estrada is available for media interviews

before and after the press conference Jan. 9 in

Washington, D.C. Call the Loews L-enfant Plaza Hotel,

(202) 484-1000.

FORT COLLINS--A student at Colorado State University will speak with President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office Jan. 9 about the importance of the nation's student financial aid programs.

Valerie Estrada, 38, is one of six students nationwide invited to attend a press conference at the White House, where the president is expected to make several announcements regarding student aid.

Following the press conference, Estrada will meet with President Clinton in private to tell a personal story about how financial aid enabled her to go to college. She graduates in May with a bachelor's degree in social work.

"I am really excited about this opportunity," Estrada said prior to leaving for her trip Wednesday morning. "I was the one nobody ever thought would do anything. I had no hope."

Estrada is a Denver native and the oldest of seven children whose family lived in poverty. Estrada became pregnant at age 16 and dropped out of high school, married, and raised three daughters. In 1991, Estrada separated from her husband and enrolled at Colorado State.

But two weeks before classes started, Estrada's brother was diagnosed with AIDS. The single mother of three struggled to make ends meet and attend school while also serving as her brother's caretaker.

Estrada's college career was put on hold again when her oldest daughter was involved in a serious car accident in April 1992, which required Estrada to stay home with her daughter for several months. Two months after the accident, Estrada's brother died.

Despite all the obstacles, Estrada returned to Colorado State full-time in the fall of 1993 and became one of the first to receive financial aid from the new Federal Direct Student Loan program.

Colorado State was chosen as one of 100 universities nationwide to participate in the direct loan program, which streamlined the way student loans were processed and distributed, said G. Kay Jacks, director of enrollment services at Colorado State. Under the program, students applied for loans directly from the university instead of through banks, making the process less confusing and more efficient, she said.

"The direct loan program has enabled students like Valerie to succeed and enabled Colorado State to provide better service," Jacks said.

When Estrada isn't in class, she works in the financial aid office helping new students apply for student loans and other financial help. Recently married to Colorado State student Phillip Gallegos, Estrada hopes to apply her degree toward helping other minority students go to college.

"I would have never made it without the support of student loans and the university," Estrada said. "I want President Clinton to know just how important that is to thousands of other students just like me."

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