I want to say that part of what you're doing is that they're things. Okay. I forgot. See, this is what happens when you're not used to technology. My name is Maricela Oliva. I'm an associate professor here at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and I'm also associate vice provost for academic and faculty support. So in the first part of my job, I work with students and I teach students and I do research. In the second part of my job, I work with faculty members to help them be successful as faculty members and to help them better understand how to serve college students well. But whatever our role, I think that the issue of undocumented students is really important to UTSA in San Antonio because we're at the forefront of kind of taking the lead on helping students be successful, and we very much believe that we need to pave the way for all of our students to be successful in school and also to go to college. Okay. Welcome back, everyone. It's now time to turn our discussion from kind of the landscape of issues impacting undocumented students across the country to focusing specifically on resources and needs, how we help our students to actually get through college with the resources that they need, and other things that we need to know about that. So I'm very privileged now to turn it over to colleagues from KIPP Academy, UTSA, and the Alamo Colleges. We'll start with Eduardo Cessati who is from KIPP, and I'm told that he will be followed after 10, 15 minutes by Chris Goldberg from UTSA, and then we'll close out with Sulema Perez from the Alamo Colleges, and we'll have time for Q&A for them on financial aid issues and for Darcella Vigil also about the issues that came up before. So thank you again for joining us, and Eduardo, are you going to use that mic? Yeah, I think it's working, right? I don't know if it's, I think it's working, right? I can't, like, kind of hear. Okay, I'm a K through 12 teacher, so I move around a lot. So just excuse me if I kind of block your view. So I've been working with undocumented students for about seven to eight years now for a while for KIPP, before that I was with Cafe College, the College Advising Center here in San Antonio, and before that I actually founded an organization at UTSA called Mexicanos and UTSA, which was the sort of idea that kind of started socially and then it went into a little bit more policy related things. But I've been able to sort of see and support and understand the practical aspects of being able to help students through their needs and resources as far as undocumented students. I always like to start with this quote because one of the things that was presented just a while ago was about that front line training. I think one of the things that ends up happening is that, yes, there's always a lot of misinformation. Now you saw a lot of the aspects that happen in higher ed, a lot of the conversations or the lack of conversations that are happening in higher ed. Well, they're just as prominent or more prominent in K through 12 settings. You have teachers who maybe just went through their undergraduate, they were okay, they never got to meet somebody in this position with this, an undocumented student. And so oftentimes in K through 12, it's a little bit harder to get folks to understand what is the kid that's in front of them, what kind of experience they have, or the limited resources that they might have, or just the more detailed things they have to do. Because luckily as time has gone on, the one thing that I've realized is, yes, there are way more resources than they used to be. And way more people who are coming out and saying, this is how I can help, this is what we can do. And so I remember seven or eight years ago, it was very hard to get a student to say to you, I'm undocumented. It was very hard for a student in 10th grade, 9th grade, 11th grade, and it wasn't because they didn't want to say it, it's because most of the time they didn't know that they were undocumented. And so since the beginning when I noticed this, we started at KIPP at least, we started creating this sort of, let's have an expert, let's have somebody who knows most things about this, and then let's make sure that all of our teachers know that it's okay to come out and say this, it's okay to ask for that guidance, and then being able to direct that student to somebody who had more information.  Just say, I don't know, but I know this person who does. And so the reason why I have this up here is because part of the big push I think in K through 12 is about information. It's about support, right? So we tend to, you know, a few years ago, we tended to sympathize a lot with the population. We tended to feel sorry or feel some kind of pity for them. And the idea was, don't sympathize, right? Empathize and help bring the solutions to the table, be able to find the resources that can help the student understand their process. Because the wording, as we talked about the fact that, you know, illegal is a very wrong word. They're not fruit, they're not vegetable, they're not contraband. They can't be illegal. That was the first step, right? Being able to move that mentality out from there. The second step was a lot about resources. What is it that the students need? What is it that they need to go through the process? As opposed to, well, what are the barriers that they have to go through? Right? The barriers that they have to go through already exist. They're going to encounter them. How can we find the loopholes against them? And so, like as a disclaimer, I'm also a doctoral student here in the educational leadership department. I'm in my third year. And a lot of my research goes into that against deficit thinking. Against the idea that we just have to focus on what it is that's wrong with the system and finding the loopholes and the supports that are right within the same system. A lot of the systems of education, as you may know, were not designed for kids of undocumented status, communities of color, first-generation students. And oftentimes, undocumented students fall into all those three categories. And so, this is a undocumented student at Harvard. I'm not going to read the quote. I've been putting it up there for a while so you could read it. Because he kind of gets to the point of, it was hard. It was hard for me to find a space where I was accepted. It was hard for me to find out that I was already disadvantaged even before I knew it. And then I started coming up with a detailed plan. I started finding the resources. And in the case of our schools, they were able to find somebody, in this case it ended up being me, who was able to start learning about the process enough that I could have information that was accurate, that was up to date, and so that our teachers and administrators didn't feel the need that they had to know it, but that they could find somebody who did. And so, I want to spend a lot of my time on that sort of idea, because as you saw from the information that you were just given, the conversations that happened in higher ed happened possibly because they didn't happen before in K-12. It might have been somebody in K-12 where the student didn't have enough confidence to talk to somebody or they didn't feel like they could talk to somebody and ask that question. The good thing is that over time, a lot of these conversations are much more prominent, they're much more constant. All of these movements with the DREAMers Act movement and college campuses, we see them, right? The students see them in the K-12 setting. And so, it allows for the conversation to be part of already the discourse that is happening. It allows for students to say, it's okay, we can talk about this with somebody, our teacher, our counselor, our advisor, our principal. And so, luckily, that's been happening more and more. At a time, and I'm not going to get political, but a time when the political climate is really tense, that may or may be a disadvantage, and I'll touch on a little bit about this idea of the fear that may be happening versus sort of the knowledge that people need. So, I'm going to go briefly through what are some of the things that we do to help students before they even get to their college campus. Before I do that, do I have anybody here in the K-12 setting, or who works with students in the K-12 setting? Okay, perfect. Perfect. So, you know, one of the big things that is very prominent in our higher ed systems of meritocracy is this idea that you need the more better the grades you have, the more opportunities you can get, the more opportunities you can access. And a lot of the conversations that I've had with families as early as eighth grade is about, well, you know, just like anybody else, you're also being subject to this educational system where people with the higher grades tend to have the more opportunities. Now, right then and there, I haven't even mentioned, you're undocumented so you have a disadvantage. It was more about, this is the system of education. You've got to keep your grades up, right? So, right off the start, the tone that was being said was not necessarily, you're already disadvantaged. It's like, okay, well, I mean, before all of that, let's look at the thing you're going through, the educational system. And let's see what are your grades, what you can do in keeping those grades up. I put on there, this is kind of an old slide, well, old slide, I mean, like a year ago. For example, we were having students apply for DACA as soon as they turned 15. So, in the campus, we were having the students apply so that they understood that they had this benefit to the point where 100% of our kids who declared themselves as undocumented were able to go to this process and luckily a lot of them, which we kind of figure out, a lot of them are eligible for it and so they were able to take that into account. We would find resources like RAISES and there's San Antonio Ministries who are able to give discounts or scholarships to pay for the DACA application fee. And so, it was really never intended to be a sort of let's just focus on your documented status, right? I was very careful not to minimize it's not the right word, but just identify the student simply for their immigration status. And maybe I would immerse them in, these are all the other things you have to consider. We're not starting off from the point of your documentation. We're going to start off from the point of, how can you be a better student? How can we support you as a student first? And then we can take into account the little logistical details that need to happen because of your status. And over time, the conversations with parents really did happen in a sense of, that we were really focusing on the things that we could do rather than the reality of the situation. The reality of the situation informed the things that we could do and so we would focus on the things that would help and the parents were very appreciative of that. They wanted more of that and then they wanted to be in this little conversation area where they could keep talking about that. So this ended up creating for us a parent board that actually first started with this, the fact that this was a very specific population we worked with and then it ended up being just overall, parents were feeling more engaged because we were allowing them the space to talk about those specific things that they could. And the parents will talk about it. And the one thing that if I have, if there's a lot of high-rate folk here, is engage your parents, right? Engage them because we're engaging them in K through 12 and then all of a sudden they stop hearing about school. Or we're engaging the students with the parents in K through 12 and then once they graduate, there's this cut-off where, oh, now you're adults. Yeah, they're adults. That doesn't mean you can't keep engaging the parents. And so ninth and 10th grade, a lot of the conversation is just setting the tone, right? We make sure that students understand that they're students, right, first. There are some things to consider because of the status, but we're not necessarily trying to put them in this one category, this one box. So if you're on document status, as opposed to a regular student, as opposed to a special education student, they were all just students. 11th grade is the part where I worked them extremely closely. I am basically the designated sort of, well, in school they call me the TASFA expert, but it's kind of like just the financial aid piece. But being able to get them to start thinking about, how am I going to do this? How am I going to get the plan to apply to universities or community colleges? 12th grade is too late for that. 12th grade is definitely too late for that. And if you're able to start the conversation in the 11th grade, the best and easiest thing you can do is designate somebody who's going to work only with the student population. Now, as far as self-declaration for public schools, the one thing that you can do is you look at the registration record and oftentimes you won't see a social. Now, you should not assume that they're undocumented just because they're not a social, but that gives you an idea who may or may not be in that population. One of the things that I would recommend that you don't do is that you go up to a student straight up and ask, are you undocumented? You can ask the other way around. Are you a citizen? Are you a resident? Or, in the case of how we do it, you first talk to the parents. Even though the parents might say, as my student already knows, they've known for a while, at least you get the sense from the parents first and say, we're thinking about the logisticals of your specific situation. We know there's things to consider outside of the regular sort of college application process, but we want to ask you first, what's going on?  And so now you know that at a certain point in time, they might not fit this box and they can go apply for FAFSA to all these other benefits. So, this 11th grade year is the most important one. It's the one where if anything is going to happen about college and it's to happen then and it's to happen very intentionally. I mean, I keep thinking about schools with these really high populations. I do some consultancy work with SAISD, which has really high student numbers in their high schools. And the thing is, when you understand that there are certain things that these students have to do, so for example, I'll touch a little bit on the task file. I know Chris is going to do this further, but task file is still a paper application process. If FAFSA kids will do it online, they can even transfer the IRS information directly onto the application. They're done in half an hour. Task file kids have to turn in the paper application, wait for the college to tell them back what it is that they need to submit also, and that's already been two weeks when they got a response. Something may be wrong with the applications and now they have to go back. They have to apply for selective service so that they can send that proofing the mail to the colleges. All of that in a span of three or four weeks happens in 30 minutes for residents and citizens and other people who apply for FAFSA. So this is the year. I think this is the year where if you are seriously taking on this sort of banner of I'm going to be able to support the students. Remember, first the students, second ask the immigrant status that they have, then this is the year. Eleventh grade is really the year when conversations need to happen. If they haven't happened, they need to happen early because the moment they start the 12th grade and the moment FAFSA and TaskFa open up in October, if they don't know where they're going specifically and how to submit those documents, I mean we had students who their application process for financial aid went from October when they fill out their TaskFa paperwork and they're just finishing now with all the paperwork that they need. In that time, half of our kids and residents and citizens that got FAFSA have already received the word letters from at least three or four colleges. They're already making a decision. A lot of colleges ask for a decision by May 1st and some of these students can't make that decision because they don't have enough information to make that decision. And so that process there has to really, really happen in the 11th grade. And oftentimes there might be a teacher who they have already developed a relationship with. So as higher ed administrators of college education folks, then who are you connecting with at the high school? Because as we were talking about it, I was just in the Texas Association for College Admission Counseling Conference and we were talking about this as a community conversation. So there are so many different aspects immigration education, maybe the first generation status, socioeconomic status. There are so many different aspects for students that a simple college advisor is not going to know everything about the subject. And so the idea is that, yes, I am engaging local community organizations, definitely, they're probably the ones that know the most. But also engaging the school, the schools that you're getting applicants from, right? Where is this applicant in the process? Do we know their status? Can I reach to the counselor and say, K counselor, this is the status of your student. This is where they are in the process. How can we help? So our education setting is, just as you may be anxious about what's going to happen to those students when they get to your campus, us college counselors at the high school level are extremely anxious about letting them go to that campus. And so part of it is, if you can, demystify the process. Demystify the process of what happens to that application once it gets to the campus and allow the student at least and the parents and us to be able to know what's going to happen exactly. Because as much as higher education professionals are aware of, well, that application goes to the system and then it goes here and then we put this different steps that the student needs to take. The student might see them on their portal, but then they might be afraid to turn in something because it might have some detail of personal information that they don't want to share or they might be asking for a social and they're like, well, I don't have a social, so maybe I should not do this paperwork. But that paperwork is essential to get enrolled. And so all of those little things really get clarified when you have that communication and you say, look, this is the process. This is what's going to happen. And so that we can just honestly tell the students, this is what's going to happen. You know, for a lot of us, we don't take what you say and then just kind of sugar coated and tell the student. Oftentimes, I just forward emails from college reps directly to the student so they can see exactly the wording that's going on. And so that sort of community conversation, a lot of it really needs to happen August 11th grade. So that actually, in our 12th grade in Texas into actually the submitting of tough and applications, I think this is a pretty straightforward process until about the very end of the year. They submit the same paperwork for college, right? So there's only a few states where, as we saw, that they were banning enrollment into college for Texas, they can enroll in college. So that would be the very first piece that you can say. It's like, there is no issue here between whether you can get in or not. The issue might be the financials of being able to go.  Let's really think about where you're applying. Two years ago, I actually had a student be able to go to Liberal Arts College in Pennsylvania. And this is where the little loophole start coming in. And the more that you guys tell us, hey, there's these things that students can do, the better I can find the loophole. So I'll tell you one. This student that went to Pennsylvania, he didn't have the DACA protection. He was just traditionally undocumented. The rule for flying is that if you're younger than 18, you don't need an ID to fly. And so the student got accepted to this Liberal Arts College. He got everything paid for to go. He really wanted to go. We talked to people over there. We talked about support systems. We were able to get somebody to tell us what's going to happen with the process. And then we found out that they could fly if they were, because he was still 17. So because the rule, just the general rule, nothing about immigration, nothing about anything, just the ID rule, was that they didn't need to show an ID when they were 17. They could fly. So the student went before they turned 18 and flew to Pennsylvania. And so for us, it was a lot of finding those little loopholes. So again, my tone with this is that we were finding the resources, the connections, right? We already knew what the disadvantages were. We were really trying to find what are the things we can do now? What are the things that can work? Where are the things that we can still take advantage of in this system that we can use for our kids' benefit? And so the student got to go to a great college and is still there. Third year. We'll graduate next year. And so we were able to give him that opportunity. Or he was actually, he earned that opportunity. And so I kind of want to emphasize on this more than anything. The first thing, and I'm glad this was echoed before, is somebody in your campus has to be that sort of advocate and expert, right? Advocate is definitely important. And they have to have some passion for the subject. But expert is as equally important. Because one of the big things that ends up happening in a lot of places, especially K-12, is this idea of misinformation. And that we tend to know, well, I heard on the news, I read this article that says this and that. I did have, I've had many instances where teachers told the students, you can't go to college. You're undocumented. You're not illegal. You can't go. Well, I mean, they can go. Pain for it might be another matter, but they can go. And so even before they told the student that they had a chance or they shut in the door for something, they actually did have a chance to do. And that was applied to that specific institution or a specific set of institutions. So what I mean when I say don't sympathize, sympathize, is do that, right? So yes, we can feel sorry. We can do the whole, I'm sorry that you don't have the same advantage, but that's not really what they want. They want to help. And so look at them as students first, right? We're able to help the students in the way that they are my student in this system. And the undocumented piece is really just a matter of, yeah, you have a little bit of a different pathway, sometimes a significant difference in the pathway, but you're still a student first. And then one thing that I tell my students a lot and staff is don't be scared, be informed, especially in the current climate. We will see a news article, I see them all the time on Facebook, about rates happening and ice being everywhere. And these are happening. These are happening, definitely. But you should be informed about those and don't add to the oftentimes this idea, this psychosis that may potentially be formed because all we're hearing is about the rates and so now we start having this idea of self-departation. And it just happened to me for the first time in seven years that I've been helping undocumented students, I had the first one say I'm just going to go back. And so that to me was very significant because even when their status kind of puts everything against them in the land that they've lived and grown and learned from, some of them are saying I'm just going to go to a new territory because they don't want me here. And that education ends up being a huge factor. If eventually something does change, they already have the education. But even if they were to go back to where they're from, once they have that education, wherever they go, they have a huge advantage for having an American education. But it really hadn't happened to me that a student extremely wanted to go back. Even though that student was a high achiever, she had a 4.0, she got a 27 on the ACT, she's going to go study medical school in Monterrey because that's where they want her because she thought her legal status was all that that really defined her. And so that's why I really emphasize that don't be scared, be informed. Now I had several conversations with this family and we eventually made this decision, right, that it would be better off if she went. In the case of that specific student, she had really good support systems where she was going. So that really fit the bill really well. But that oftentimes is not the case. And so the one thing I really want you to be encouraged with is be informed. Don't add to the psychosis because that's really what a lot of times these executive orders or news outlets, that's what they really, not that they want to, but that's really some of the effect of what's going on. And so if that's the only thing that they're looking at, then don't do that. Tell them this is the real thing. These are your resources. These are the stories you should look at. Okay. So that's my take. How's everybody today? Good. Give it up for Eduardo. Okay. Well the great thing is a lot of what I was going to cover has been covered. This makes my job a little easier. But my name is Chris Goldsbury. I'm the senior undergraduate admissions counselor for the University of Texas at San Antonio. So I welcome you to our campus. And my role in admissions is I'm pretty much the financial aid guru for all of our counselors. I worked in financial aid for over a decade. And I still manage the financial aid outreach program. And I will tell you that I'm still amazed that when you are the face of financial aid for your university, how many people suddenly want to be your new best friend. So this is particularly important for our undocumented students. So I made gloss over some of these slides. You have them to take with you, but for time's sake because we want to allow our colleges to go and have a Q&A. We'll make this more about how we award students. So I'm going to narrow the scope from Darcella's presentation to be primarily Texas and UTSA is our example. So within the state of Texas, certain undocumented students are eligible to apply for financial aid. But they are not eligible for federal aid, obviously. So we've discussed that. What they're primarily eligible for is state aid and then institutional aid, and the institution have aid to offer them. That just varies per school. So Darcella also referenced this. The actual bill is House Bill 1403 was the first bill that was allowed passed in 2001 here in Texas that allows certain non-citizens or undocumented students to qualify for state financial aid and also to pay in-state residency tuition, which is a huge thing because as was mentioned before, it can be anywhere out of state tuition, anywhere between two to seven times your in-state tuition, depending upon the institution. Senate Bill 1528 came along a couple years later and sort of broadened that status to include U.S. citizens and permanent residents and other folks in the country who could claim residency status. So here in Texas, since our undocumented students cannot submit a FAFSA, they submit what we call a TASFA, as Eduardo was talking about. It is a Texas application for state financial aid. It is almost identical to the FAFSA, except that it's paper. A lot of the questions near the FAFSA, it does not take very long to fill out. It's about anywhere between four to five pages. But to be eligible, the state has set very specific requirements for students to be eligible to submit a TASFA. In your packets, most schools in Texas do take the TASFA. Eduardo provided a, I know it's very small, you may have to use a magnifying glass, but we provided a list of schools. Some schools want for these students a paper FAFSA, and they use that instead, but most schools will use the TASFA. But to be eligible for this type of funding, they first of all must have graduated from a public or private high school in Texas and have resided within our state for at least three years as of the date that they graduate from that school. They also have to have lived in Texas for at least 12 months prior to enrollment, so that's pretty much what everybody who wants to claim in-state residency has to do. And then when the student's applying, it's very important that when they're filling out our application for admission that they fill it out correctly, because I see a lot of our students who come in as, they're admitted as international students when they really should be coded as House Bill 1403 students, and we have to fix that. And that's just more paperwork. So they also do have to submit assigned affidavit that is completely notarized saying that they do intend to apply for permanent residency as soon as possible. Yes. Correct. So is the affidavit through the institution itself? So for here at UTSA, you can download the affidavit right off our website. Now, the TASFA, again, like I said, is paper, but remember the funding is incredibly limited for our students. Each school gets a different allocation of funding for our students. So we still want students to go ahead and submit the TASFA here at UTSA. We'll allow them to submit the TASFA even with estimated figures if they need to come back later and make corrections. But just like with our students who submit the FASFA, we want that TASFA in as early as possible to get them kind of in line, because like I said, it's first come first served. So we have to be pretty strict. The TASFA did change to mirror the new FASFA opening deadline. So now students in Texas can download the TASFA starting October 1st. So I want to mention that. But we are very, very rigid at schools, particularly state schools, because our funding is limited. We have priority deadlines, and our FASFA students have to abide by those, and so do our TASFAs in particular. At UTSA, our priority deadline is March 15th. That mirrors the state of Texas' priority deadline. TASFAs that come in after March 15th at first time, we generally almost never have any more funding available because it's so limited. We can't even guarantee funding before March 15th, but you have a much better window of opportunity if you can get your TASFA in as early as possible. Some schools are even earlier, March 1st. Again, completely depends on the school here in Texas. Males must register with the Selective Service. So that's a big question. If you get a lot of the time while I'm an undocumented student, why? Well, that's just the requirement that Texas has set. All males that are applying for the TASFA must register with the Selective Service or submit proof that they are not required to register. And then, like I said, the TASFA is very similar to the FAFSA. You're pretty much gathering the same information. These are just some things that you can take away with you, such as income tax, W2s. Many of our undocumented families do file tax returns. They don't. It just depends on the family. So each situation is going to be very unique. Here at UTSA, our TASFA coordinator will work with each family individually as needed to make sure that we have the correct information to generate their expected family contribution. Because that's the purpose of these applications for financial aid, is to generate an expected family contribution so that we know what a student's unmet financial need is. So just like with the FAFSA, the TASFA looks at some of the same exact things. Your income and your assets are kind of a big one. But some of these other things that you see up there, such as number of students who are in college, are you a dependent student versus an independent student? So certainly, it is important for students to submit as much information as they can, but what happens is when we get that information in paper form, we manually enter that here and manually generate a student's expected family contribution at the university. Whereas a student who fills out the FAFSA, their expected family contribution is generated immediately at the end of the process. So again, we talked about waiting in line. It's just another waiting in line step. Just for a briefly, every school has a cost of attendance. This is our current cost of attendance for one year for fall, spring, for a student who's living on campus. This is not a bill. Students oftentimes think this is my bill. This is what I have to pay. No, that's not necessarily the case. The only thing that we know that students will pay down to the penny are tuition and fees, because we charge by the hour. So however many hours you take, there's a specific charge for that. But for our undocumented students, notice Room and Board is $11,234 on average to live on campus. There are ways to save money. Many of our undocumented students choose to live at home, which is to go to a local school. That saves them usually quite a bit in Room and Board, finding their books more cheaply or earlier editions or renting books. So there are ways to bring this figure down. But we have to, just like with all of our students, create that cost of attendance, A, so you sort of know roughly what you'll pay, but B, so we can determine what your unmet financial need is. That's really important, as you'll see on the, I think the next slide, because what we award TASFA students are primarily grants, and many of those are need-based. So to generate financial need, we take the student's cost of attendance and subtract their expected family contribution. Just like any other student, that tells us what financial aid we can award. But, again, TASFA students are very limited in what they can be awarded here in Texas. Oh, I guess I put actions in. Okay, I wanted to bring this up because, Eduardo talked about this, and this is very important. Many schools do not award their admitted TASFA students till July. Some schools are starting to award earlier, but most of us are waiting for our allocations to come from the state capitol. So we're not exactly sure what we can award these students, or if we'll be able to award them at all. Well, if we can't tell these students what kind of financial aid they're going to receive until July, what does that cause? It means that they can't make decisions, right? So that's very, very challenging for some of these students, and it's hard to talk to them. You know what? I'm not going to be able to tell you what you're awarded until July. Students can only be awarded TASFA students, only receive awards for fall and or spring. They are not allowed to be awarded for summer sessions. Here at UTSA, these are the two grants that we primarily award to students. One thing that is important for students to know, you saw that large cost of attendance of $25,000. Well, we can only legally award students up to their tuition and fees. We can't give them anything more than what their tuition and fees might be. And many students don't even receive that much. A lot of it depends on how early you turn in the application, what our funding is. It's different from year to year. I always encourage TASFA students to go out and seek scholarships. Many schools have scholarships that are available through their colleges and departments or through their financial aid offices. I'm not going to talk a lot about this slide, but I gave you some websites that I found helpful in finding scholarships that are for our undocumented students that maybe you can take with you and share with some of your students. But I do want to mention this because I do serve as the mentor for this scholarship here at UTSA. At UTSA, we have a distinguished presidential scholarship. We also have a transfer scholarship. So as we talked about, many of our undocumented students start at community college. They could potentially qualify for that transfer scholarship. But this is a UTSA scholarship, meaning that the money comes from our institution. So students can be eligible for this scholarship whether they're a citizen, a permanent resident, undocumented, truly a visiting international student, so long as they meet the qualifications. There is no application for this scholarship. So you'll see a lot of schools have a variation of this type of scholarship. For example, the distinguished presidential scholarship requires students who are entering in fall to be fully admitted by... Actually, I should change that date. It's now December 1st as of this new year. So if the student is fully admitted by December 1st, and they meet the qualifications, so I'm going to show you on the next slide, they could potentially be awarded this scholarship. We have a tiered ranking system. So we look at, just like we do for admissions, we look at what percentile they're in, and then do they have a corresponding test score. So you'll see it looks like there's two SATs. The first one's the old SAT, second one's the new SAT. We'll go with whatever they have, or the ACT. If they meet those two qualifications, they're automatically offered that award. Now that award, whatever it may be, is divided over four years. So if they receive that top 24,000, they get 6,000 a year. For this specific Distinguished Presidential Scholarship, her question was, for this specific scholarship, do they even have to submit a TASFA, or even students who submit FAFSA? No, they don't. You just have to be admitted and have the test scores, and when we admit the student, we offer that award. That's the first thing that typically goes out as part of an award package. You get one letter just saying, you got that. Yes. For this particular award, if you want it to pay out, you would need to be a full-time student. Yes. This is for new freshmen, but we do have one that's Distinguished Transfer Scholarships. They must have between 24 to 66 transferable credit hours, and there is a rather lofty GPA requirement, it's 3.75. That award is $6,000 over two years, so you get $3,000 a year. And that one is very much the same. If you're eligible, you get it. Many of our undocumented students are not pursuing loans, but if they do, they're not federal loans. Some of our undocumented students do pursue alternative loans, so I try to offer them as much advice as I possibly can to help them with that, certainly to reduce the amount that they need to borrow by applying for every single free-money opportunity they can. By applying for scholarships, by applying your TASFA in as early as possible, the more free money you have, and the more cuts you can make in your cost of attendance, the less of a gap you're going to need to fill. Certainly, don't borrow large amounts, so if you're going out to an alternative lender, be very careful about what you borrow. And then anything that students may choose to borrow, I encourage them to keep a loan portfolio, that's for any student across the board. There's nothing like trying to graduate, you're finishing, and you suddenly realize, I owe, I don't know, $50,000 in loans, or however much it may be, that kind of takes the shine off your graduation. But like we talked about earlier, these students would not be eligible for federal loans. The only loans that they could potentially be eligible for are private loans. Yes. That is a very good question. Her question was, do you know of certain banking institutions that offer loans at a lower rate? Educational loans. Educational loans, correct. Unfortunately, once upon a time, we were able to actually... Yeah, talk about that. Now the government no longer allows us to recommend anyone, so what we do have to tell our students is if you're looking for an alternative loan, you will need to do that research on your own. Yes. I have seen for the college access loan, we have had undocumented students that have applied and received that loan. Just bear in mind with the college access loan, it is an alternative Texas loan, and almost all students are going to need a cosigner, because these alternative loans are typically based on credit. Does the cosigner have to be documented? It depends on the loan for the college access loan. I don't believe they do. We're just looking at their credit. The very last thing is we want students to make sure that they're maintaining satisfactory academic progress so that they can continue receiving financial aid every year. So at the end of the year, we look at all of our students, whether they're FAFSA, TASFA, and in order to continue receiving financial aid, they must complete all three requirements, maintain the minimum 2.0 GPA, complete their courses with the passing grades. Certainly you may have a drop here and there, but we have a percentage rate that we want students to maintain, and then finish in a timely manner, because if you've been here for too long, a lot of times that financial aid, and you might have to start pursuing some of those alternative loans, right? If you have more questions specifically for UTSA, please connect with our One Stop Enrollment Center, or I'm here too, you can talk to me, but this is just our contact information. The One Stop Enrollment Center is the office that takes care of everything from admissions to financial aid to registrar to, you name it, that's why. It's a One Stop. So we had a question in the back. Okay, so her question was, we require students to sign an affidavit stating that they would seek permanent residency once they actually possibly can. To my knowledge, we don't follow up on that. We just need the affidavit. Okay, well, because of time, and we're going to try to have some time for Q&A, and I'll stay afterwards to answer one-on-ones, but I do want to turn it over to our alma colleges folks. They're going to take about five minutes or so just to tell us what their community centers do and about some of the programs they offer. Good afternoon. I'm here representing Carmen de Luna Jones. She wasn't able to be here today, but I'm here. My name is Sulema Perez, and Miguel Villalos is here to assist me. I just want to say that we strongly support and document the students, and the alma colleges have passed and approved a resolution which I would like to read to you, and it reads like this. Resolution of support of the educational success of Alma College's district on document the student dreamers, whereas the Alma College's district mission is empowering our diverse communities for success, and whereas dreamers of the Alma College's district are important members of our diverse community, and whereas dreamers have a retention rate of 89.2%, and whereas dreamers have a productive grade rate of 76.5%, and whereas state and federal legislation detrimental to dreamers would prevent this group of students from achieving their educational goals, and whereas possible legislation could create barriers for dreamers, making higher education costs prohibitive, and whereas possible legislation may negatively affect the contributions to local, state, and national economies, and whereas curtailing the education of dreamers will hinder attainment of the state of Texas higher education plan 60 by 30, and whereas the aspiration of the dreamers are in alignment with the Alma College's district, values of students first, respect for all, and community engage, and whereas support for pro-dreamers, students' legislation supports the Alma College's district, values of students first, respect for all, and community engage. Be it now, therefore, resolved that the Alma College's district shall oppose any state or federal legislation that would be detrimental to the educational success of undocumented students' dreamers, past, adopted, and approved on this 21st day of March 2017. I just want to let you know that we assist our students with TASPA, with the college process, of course, the Applied Texas, the affidavit, and the TASPA packet. We also have a website where we post our different scholarships that we have for our students. We also have IMEVECAS, which has assisted 60 undocumented students for the past three years in paying their tuition because of not receiving any type of assistance. We also have a website for DACA students to give them more resources and updates on the things that are going on. We not only help our students register for college, but we also try to retain them in college by providing them with different resources such as Know Your Rights, which we had a workshop this morning, and we are going to continue to do that as well. Thank you. Okay, we have time now for Q&A. Why don't you stay up here in case there are questions for you as well. And so all of the presenters, is Eduardo still here? Oh, okay, I'm sorry. Why don't you all kind of take a little bit of a position here. I don't know if there are still questions from folks about some of the issues covered today on any of the issues covered today. So this is for Chris. Chris and I know you're going to remember the question. What is the number of students that applied through TASFA at UTC that do not get helped financially? It varies per year. I'll be real honest. I don't have a specific statistic for you, but I do walk past the TASFA coordinator's office every once in a while because at UTSA we do have a TASFA coordinator that's one big piece of his job. And one of the major problems is we see a large stack of TASFAs that came in early, I mean a pretty substantial size stack of students who were never admitted because they never followed through with the admissions process. We could completely change that dynamic if we could encourage students, which we try, but we need students to be admitted and to be admitted early. How that would change our awarding? I'm not sure because, again, it's very limited funding. Yes, ma'am. Actually as a follow-up to that, what parameters determine how much the institutions get for TASFA funding? Do any certain designations help with that or assessments help with that to increase the funding later or tell us at all? It completely varies per year as to depend upon some things that they may look at our student population. Different types of allocations go out to different schools, so it's not just TASFA allocations because as you saw, one of the pieces that we award is Texas Excellence Grants. So many of our undocumented students are eligible for a Texas Excellence Grant. We're not getting necessarily an allocation for TASFA. We get an allocation for Texas Excellence Grants, or an allocation for Texas Public Education Grants, and then we have to work within those allocations to award A, our FAFSA students, and then B, our TASFA students. So every single school's allocation looks very different, just depending upon the year. Any other questions? Well, it looks like we might have gotten to the point where you're overwhelmed with the information you did get. But what we'll try to do is capture the PowerPoints and any information shared and maybe send it to you. If you've signed up in our sign-up sheet with email addresses, we will get it to you. Hopefully you've written it down in an illegible way so that we can read it. But please join me in thanking our speakers who presented wonderful information. Thank you, and some of them said there will be a round for a few more minutes. Those of you who have to leave, drop by the little concession area and see if there's still any goodies to take home.


Lewis Cook goes driving out of defence, out to the right-hand side where Smith has stayed forward on the overlap. Adam Smith's early cross. Billing coming in with the header! That's a good save by Henderson. Nice build-up, Smith involved again as he was against Everton. Beautifully teased cross for Billing, who ran onto it, got good connection with the header and Henderson threw up his hand and tipped it over. In comes the corner, towards the goalkeeper, and here Lloyd Kelly has got his head in his hands as that glances sideways off his head in the six-yard box and wide the left post. Right side of the box now, beach Jordan Ayu, chance for Palace here, low ball into the box, missed it at the back post, and put it by Ezzak! And the visitors strike as they have been doing in recent games. Oh, hang on, Milo. Offside. There might be an offside here. And it is offside. Palace now, Smith helps it on down the right-hand side where the defender, Ozo, was just moving in the wrong direction. He's relieving a real match with Cermenio, who pulls it back towards the penalty spot. And here's Justine Kleiner! Cermenio playing the role of Super Sub, held off the defender with his strength, squared it for Kleiner, got it out of his feet, and killed it with his left foot beyond Henderson. And Bournemouth with 11-minute remaining, breaking the deadlock against Palace. Here come the cherries down the left-hand side, little link up, Kurt Gage has it, knocks it in, Cermenio for himself now, saved by the legs of Henderson as Cermenio went with his left foot and out for a corner. Oce is the space for Kleiner, if he'll now confine him, which he can now, it's just ever so slightly behind him now, so he has to check his drive, Kleiner's still going into the area, drills it for goal, beaten away by Henderson with two pups.


the passenger's tune from the western Iles. Pros meantime, if members will be interested to know that the figures that are released today reveal that that tend much macro over 98,000 16 and 17 year olds have registered go t in the independence referendum. Ar ganweithio ddaf o 80% o ddarparu 16 a 17 yw rôl, ac mae geniad 4 mewn cymdeithasol adrofiad dim yn teimlo iawn. Johann Lamont That information, of course, should all reflect dydig yn awr o'r pwysig, ond wrth cael eu fawr amlaeddysterau i chi hynny, beth yw'r annybodaeth'n cyfnoddau i fynd wedi ei fod yn ôl i'w hynny. Felly, according to Amnisk international, Vladimir Putin has effectively criminalised homosexuality, has cracked down on democratic dissent, carries out arbitrary arrests and has corrupted the judicial process and then there are many journalists who have disappeared after criticising the Kremlin. Ieart, the first minister has expressed his admiration for Putin. Will the First Minister now withdraw his ill-judged comments ac yn ymwneud i'r Llacholodau i'r wrthwyr i'r Llacholodau i'r Llacholodau i'r Lleidwyr. Yr Fffordd Fyllgrifol? Rwy'n credu'n chael i'r cymdeithasid. Yr ystod, rwy'n cymdeithasid, fe ddim yn adrodd diwylliant rhesiag i rhesiag i Lleidwyr, ac rwy'n credu i'r llacholodau i Lleidwyr, ac i'r llacholodau i'r llacholodau, ac yn ymgynghoru i'r rhesiag i'u rhain. I said also that I believed he'd been underestimated by the western press, I think that's pretty obvious now, and I did express my admiration for certain aspects by which I had in mind the restoration of Russian pride because I was speaking in the aftermath of the Sochi Olympics. Indeed, I was speaking during the Para Olympics and why I believe our attitude to this is reasonable and consistent. On 9 January, the external affairs secretary met the Russian consul general to express our opposition to Russian policies and homosexuality. On 13 March, we expressed again to the consul general our concern about Russian attitude to Ukraine. On 26 March, we drew the invitation to the consular court dinner, an action that was widely reported, and we said that we have taken this step following the Russian Federation's illegal and illegitimate referendum in the Crimea and the steps subsequently taken to annex the territory. The Scottish Government and my position on these aspects have been totally consistent throughout. Strangely enough, I was searching today to find what Johann Lamont had said about the situation in Ukraine, and I couldn't find a single comment, not just from Johann Lamont, but from any of the Opposition leaders this year. On the explanation of the serious attitude that we have taken to this serious subject, I think that that is a reasonable perspective that reflects the views of the people of Scotland. I think that no matter how hard the First Minister googles, he will not find me expressing any admiration for Vladimir Putin. On the question of Sochi, I think that the protesters beating with horse whips at Sochi might have a different view of the success of the Sochi Olympics. The First Minister says that his position is reasonable and consistent, but to Amnesty International and others it is something different. Michael Astabco, who leads Scotland's Ukrainian population, has expressed that community's hurt, disgust, betrayal and astonishment at the First Minister's comments. He said in a letter to the First Minister and I quote, "...we cannot see any good in Putin's actions and we fail to see how you can be so effusive in admiration towards this despotic and criminally run nation whose own citizens are cowed into submission, not admiration by arrests, assassination and rabid nationalism." Will the First Minister now withdraw his support of Vladimir Putin and apologise? I expressed the Restoration of Russian Pride awards referring to the Paralympics. We expressed our opposition to the attitude to homosexuality prior to the Olympics, but on a range of indications in organisational terms, the Olympics were widely regarded as a substantial success in terms of their organisation. I have a range of quotes here that indicate that. When I said that I did not approve of a range of Russian actions, I was reflecting a serious view put forward by the Scottish Government on a consistent basis. That is done since I gave that interview. That view has also been put forward to the Ukrainian authorities in several meetings on a consistent basis. If we have done that—I have explained the opposition that I have to a range of Russian actions and said how we have done that consistently—is that not a reasonable position to adopt. Why is it that only now, Johann Lamont has anything whatsoever to say about human rights in Russia or the situation of Ukraine, only now does the Labour Party in Scotland decide that this is something worth raising? The position that we have put forward is consistent and balanced. It shows that we do not approve of Russian actions, but it makes comments that are reasonable in the circumstances, and we back that up by the action that we have taken. I do not think that any of the opposition parties in this Parliament could have any indication that they have expressed any concern in public that I can find. If Johann Lamont can point to a quotation where she was interested in this topic before today, then I will be delighted to acknowledge that she expressed such a quotation. I have pointed to Scottish Government actions over a consistent period of time. I think that it is reasonable to find out if the Labour Party in this Parliament had any similar record of action or concern. I am a proud member of Amnesty International and I support what they have said on this question. All of the human rights abuses that they have identified across the world, because what the First Minister does not seem to understand is that all of the things that his Scottish Government has said on this question are completely undermined by an assertion that the Sochi Olympics and what Putin has done there is worthy of any admiration whatsoever. Putin has annexed Crimea. Putin says that acts like annexed Crimea have restored Russian pride. Alex Salmond has praised Putin for restoring Russian pride. Does the First Minister, even at this stage, not see his comments where at best ill-judged and must be withdrawn? What on earth does he admire so much about Putin? Well, if the First Minister bullies and threatens Scottish newspapers because he does not like their cartoons, maybe we can see what he admires about Putin. Even at this stage, will Alex Salmond now apologise for praising Vladimir Putin? The first thing that I said in the interview that I did not approve of a range of Russian actions and have indicated how we have communicated that to the consul general and publicised it and drawn the contrast on many occasions that I have done between the legitimate democratic process of a referendum in Scotland and the lack of constitutionality and the lack of process in the referendums arranged in the Crimea. I think that that is a reasonable thing to do backed up by action. There are reasons to doubt Johann Lamont and the other parties' bona fideas on this. I have seen the letter. It is not just the absence of any comment, but I have seen the letter to the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain Scotland, signed by the three Better Together leaders. Nowhere in that letter is there any reference to Better Together's leading donor—the £500,000 donation from Ian Taylor, the boss of Vitoll. Is Johann Lamont aware that Vitoll is engaged in a business relationship with Rosneth, including a loan of £10 billion, whose boss, Igor Retsetche, is on the banned list from the American Government? Will Johann Lamont think about apologising to the people of Corkain for that association? Furthermore, will there be any consideration to returning the Better Together donation of £500,000 to Mr Taylor? Johann Lamont? Only in the SNP could that be regarded as an appropriate answer to a serious question. The reputation of the people of Scotland is damaged by the performance of that First Minister. The First Minister wouldn't meet the Dalai Lama, but he praises Rupert Murdo. He praises Nigel Farage and praises an ex-KGB officer accused of abusing his own citizens' human rights all in the one interview and then slags off Barack Obama. Alex Salmond criticised Obama for not doing enough but then said of Vladimir Putin and I quote, he is more effective than most and you can see why he carries support in Russia. He said he admires certain aspects of Putin's character. He said he's restored a substantial part of Russian pride and that must be a good thing, regardless of the price that people in Russia have paid for that restoration. If, as is evident now, the First Minister won't withdraw those remarks and apologise, will he now tell us, and the people of Scotland and people across the world, precisely what aspects of Vladimir Putin does he so admire? I did that in answer to the first two questions, but I just point out for the record that there's a series of misquotations that Johann Lamont engaged in. To take one example, what I said was he was more effective than the press he gets, and that has been confirmed by the magazine. What I have in mind is that the Western press has consistently underestimated President Putin, and I think that that would be pretty obvious from the events of the last few weeks. I've said and let me say again that I don't approve of Russian actions across a range of issues. Consistently, this Government has set out what these issues are, despite the silence from all of the Opposition parties on those issues. The Association of Ukrainian's in Great Britain President, Zenko Lazakski, has written saying and looking at Sir George Robertson's call last month for Russia to be admitted to NATO, we cannot comment on his reasoning but it's extremely bizarre while insulting to the Ukrainian nation. I say to Johann Lamont that in that letter, where I am sure she's going to explain why Better Together's biggest donor has business links with people on the banned list by the American Government, she'll be apologising for the insult caused by her party colleague Lord George Robertson. I think that the serious issues are as follows. We have deprecated Russian actions and attitude towards Ukraine. We have spelt out and said that we don't support Russian's attitude to human rights or, indeed, to homosexuality. We've done these things consistently throughout this year. We didn't want to alight on the issue as part of a combined Better Together political opportunity. We said these things before, during and after the interview with JQ, which is why we have substantially more credibility than the Opposition parties in this chamber and why we'll continue to say them without fear and without favour. Question 2, Ruth Davidson. Thank you, Presiding Officer, to ask the First Minister when he will next meet the Secretary of State for Scotland. No plans near future. Ruth Davidson. Presiding Officer, the First Minister has said that he wants us to put his comments into context, so let's do that. On the same day that the First Minister sat down with Alasdair Campbell, 10,000 Russian troops were massing on the Ukrainian border. Ukraine's Prime Minister said that Russia was demonstrating, and I quote, military aggression that had no reason and no grounds. Two days earlier, President Obama pledged to stand with the Ukraine. 24 hours after that, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel attacked Russian actions, warning that territorial integrity of Ukraine cannot be called into question. Then, on 14 March, the UK's foreign secretary, William Hague, called on the international community to take a united stand together to defend the territorial integrity of another nation. That is the day that Alex Salmond used to praise Vladimir Putin, an act that he is still defending in this chamber today. Arthur, the First Minister says that he wasn't wrong, but can he see why so many other people think that he was? I'll be writing to the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain under Scottish Brands explaining the full range of the Scottish Government's action on the matter, making it clear that I'll through the meetings, both with the Russian consul general, through the meetings with the Ukrainian representatives, and the public statements that I and others have made, which have been substantially reported, how we have made our attitude towards the Russian attitude to Ukraine absolutely clear, as well as expressing our concern with human rights in Russia, as indeed I did in terms of deprecating a range of Russian actions in the interview that she cites. Not only have I been unable to find any comment from Johann Lamont on this issue, I have been unable to find any comment from Ruth Davidson on this issue. Ruth Davidson should also have some understanding that when the Scottish Government has a substantial record of consistent comment on exactly these matters over the last few months, that stands in stark comparison with Opposition parties that had nothing to say on this issue until they sense a political opportunity. Let me repeat for the record, we deprecate Russian actions in Ukraine. We are concerned for human rights, not just in Russia but all over the planet. We have said these things consistently and we shall continue to do so. Ruth Davidson? I think that a substantial number of the people of Scotland would have preferred that there was an absence of comment from the First Minister in admiration of Vladimir Putin. Presiding Officer, this is a question of judgment. The First Minister says that he backs our key British alliances across the world. He has shifted his tack to support NATO. He says that he wants to show our closest allies in Europe and the US that he will stand alongside them. Yet at the same time, we see a leader who continues to make poorly timed, badly judged interventions on foreign affairs. The First Minister was wrong about Kosovo and he is wrong about Putin. We know what Amnesty International thinks. We know what the Ukrainian people in Scotland think. We know what other world leaders think. How can we trust the First Minister to represent Scotland on the global stage when he so consistently gets it wrong? The First Minister? That really was on the nub of the issue facing the people of Ukraine. Let's express again our concern for Russian actions in Ukraine, our concern for the Ukrainian people, our concern for human rights in Russia, the substance of the issue. I am interested, however, in when Vladimir Putin suddenly became persona non grata with the Conservative Administration. Cameron's plea to Putin helped me to stop salmon. It was the interview from earlier this year that was repeated in this Parliament last month at a committee where a Scottish official from the Scotland office confirmed that he had discussed that report in a meeting where he was briefing the Russian Government. Now, of course, perhaps he was just asking for information. He was doing things in a totally balanced way, but Ruth Davidson will understand why, if in January you were appealing for Vladimir Putin's support, it comes ill to come to this chamber until I should condemn them throughout. To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet. The next meeting of the Cabinet will discuss issues of great importance to the people. The First Minister is not a homophobe, nor does he support the Syrian regime, but he must realise that if he praises people who do, he diminishes himself. He mentioned Sochi. The Prime Minister and leaders of the Western world spoke for us all when they boycotted Sochi because of Putin, but the First Minister praises Putin because of Sochi. Considering the international storm, is he still adamant that he did the right thing? There is a range of acceptance from people internationally, including the American ambassador, including the Canadian Olympic president, that the Sochi Olympics were well organised and helped to restore pride in terms of the people of Russia. The IOC praised the excellent Sochi 2014 Games. Over across a range of international opinion, that was accepted. Why does not the Liberal Democrat leader accept that there is concern across this Parliament for the issue of human rights? That the Scottish Government's record on human rights internationally has been described as exemplary, that we have worked with the Scottish Human Rights Commission on a wide range of civil society organisations to produce the first-ever national action plan for human rights in Scotland, as well as recognising our responsibilities internationally. It would be wonderful if, just occasionally, Willie Rennie would accept that other people, apart from the Liberal Democrats, have expressed a consistent concern for human rights in our country and, indeed, across the planet. Willie Rennie said that his remarks were balanced. Moscow did not think so. President Putin lapped up the praise. I do not get why the First Minister spokesman thinks earlier this week that it is okay to praise President Putin back in March. Putin has not just started persecuting gay people, restricting free speech, threatening to cut off Europe's gas supplies, backing the Syrian regime and invading his neighbours. He has been doing it for years, and it is not the first time for the First Minister, either. Cow towing to the Chinese over the Dalai Lama on cost of vote are now on Russia. The First Minister wants us to stand tall in the world, but does he not just look small? Where will I start with Willie Rennie? Willie Rennie has not... Willie Rennie, like his two colleagues in Better Together, who have not mentioned any of them, the £500,000 donation from the man who has business links with people on the banned American list. Apart from that, Willie Rennie has never acknowledged and actually claimed, I think, that he had not raised human rights with the Chinese leadership. Can you please explain, then, this BBC report? That is me, and that is the Chinese leadership, and the headline is, Salmon Raises China's Human Rights. I think I have got a track record of raising human rights with countries across the world without fear or favour. In contrast, Willie Rennie, rather like his two colleagues, also had said nothing about this issue that I can find on record until today. It was, of course, his own party colleague. When the Scotland Office official was about to divulge to this Parliament's committee exactly what the briefing at the Russian Embassy was about earlier this year, it was the Secretary of State for Scotland who interrupted him and said that that information could not be disclosed. No doubt there are limits to the Liberal Democrats' wish for freedom of expression and freedom of information, but when it comes to denying this Parliament's committee's information about what exactly was going to be brief to the Russian Embassy, I think that, at some point, Willie Rennie might accept that he and his party have associations of which they should not be proud. He and his party, calling in aid Vladimir Putin earlier this year, looked a bit ridiculous, condemning him now when they have said nothing up until this moment. To ask the First Minister what recent contact he has had with the UK Government regarding an independent Scotland's membership of the European Union. As is well known, the United Kingdom Government has repeatedly fused to jointly approach European Commission with the precise legal scenario on Scottish independence. I made a point in correspondence with the Foreign Secretary on Sunday. He wrote me a letter and I replied that day. Hopefully, that new intimate communication between ourselves and the UK Government will result in the UK Government changing its mind and jointly going to the European Commission with the precise legal scenario so that we can take those matters forward. I thank the First Minister for that answer and note how well attended his speech at the College of Europe was this week, demonstrating the huge interests across, certainly from what I have seen from the committee of Europe in the debate over Scotland's constitutional future. Can the First Minister outline what considerations has been given to the consequences of Scotland not being in the European Union, particularly for our friends and neighbours elsewhere in the EU? In contrast to the better-together parties in this Parliament, there is a wide appreciation across Europe of Scotland's contribution to the European Union. We may be one per cent of the population of the European Union, but we are 60 per cent of the oil resource, 25 per cent of the renewable energy potential and 20 per cent of the fishing stocks of the European Union. This country may have one per cent of the population but has a substantial role to play in Europe, something that is appreciated by our friends and colleagues across the continent, sadly not in the better-together alliance. The First Minister's trip to Bruges, which Ms McKelvie has just referred to, has borne fruit somewhat earlier than he might have expected, in that he now has advice that his Government is perfectly entitled to implement a living wage through public sector contracts. Will he now instruct his members to back Scottish Labour's amendments to the procurement bill and acknowledge that the way is now clear to allow him to finally do the right thing for Scotland's workers? It is a bit wide of the mark, but, First Minister, let us just remember that it is this Government who introduced the living wage across the public sector in Scotland. The spokesperson, presumably, is the legal opinion that the member is citing. In the Scotsman, they were not preventing it, but it was possible that it could be challenged by companies at a later stage. That, of course, is exactly the issue that the European Commission has suggested that the posting of workers directive in correspondence with the Scottish Government makes it incompatible for us to set a living wage higher than that. I shall cite the correspondence that does that from the European Commission and put it in the record of this Parliament and will contrast it with the quote of the Scotsman, which said that it might be open to challenge by companies at a later stage. That Government has introduced the living wage across the Scottish public sector, something that the Labour Party omitted or forgot to do. We are proud of that. This Government is introducing the procurement legislation to encourage the living wage across Scottish society. This Government is pressing the European Commission to make it unambiguous that the living wage can be part of the contract, so councils such as Glasgow Council do not have to answer FOIs and admit that they share the same opinion as the Scottish Government as regards the European Commission. Can we not join together and say that the Europe, if it is to be meaningful to the workers across the continent, should have a social purpose, and the living wage is a grand example exactly of that programme? To ask the First Minister following the publication of the Martin Hall investigation how the Scottish Government plans to support parents and families affected. I know the thoughts of all of us with the families affected who have not only suffered the loss of a child but the additional trauma that the Martin Hall report highlights. That experience for families has been going on for decades. No one should ever have to experience this pain and were determined that no one shall ever will again. That is why the outcome of Lord Barnaby's infinite cremation commission, whose findings along with those of Dame Angelini will lead to a new burials in cremation legislation. It is order to stop these terrible events happening again in the future as a priority of this Parliament. However, we must care for those who are affected in the here and now. We provided additional funding last year to assist the two counselling organisations who have done such sterling work and are being closely involved with the parents affected by the issue. Today, I acknowledge that we are making available an additional £100,000 for counselling services for the families affected. As Scottish Government officials are ready by gun discussions with the two counselling organisations to take this forward. Can I assure Kezia Dugdale that the Scottish Government will implement the recommendations of Ailish Angelini's report as regards the Government? Edinburgh Council has also made a similar commitment and we will take forward Lord Barnaby's infinite cremation commission and its recommendations into legislation at the earliest possible moment so that those events never fall any family in Scotland again. Can I thank the First Minister for that answer and welcome the additional funds? I know that the services that Sands and Simba offer parents are very important and make a real difference. When you or I lose someone close to us, we have countless memories to call on, photographs and possessions. Parents who lose a baby have only those brief moments and that is why the ashes matter so much. Parents at Mortonhall wanted the truth. Thanks to Ailish Angelini's report, many now know with certainty that they will never know where their baby's ashes are. Will the First Minister promise parents beyond Mortonhall, those in Aberdeen, Falkirk and Glasgow and beyond, that his Government will do everything in its power to access the same truth, no matter how hard it is to accept? Yes, I can give that commitment and I think that Kezia Dugdale is absolutely right that in this issue there are a number of key priorities. One is to find out exactly why, over a period of many decades, the processes at Mortonhall and perhaps elsewhere were allowed to exist and continue in the way that they did. Secondly, and I should say to the chamber that the Lord Advocate has referred Ailish Angelini's report to the Police for Further Investigation. First, we have to allow that investigation of any possible criminality to properly take its course. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly of all when she refers to it, having met a number of the parents and I know ministers and other Opposition members have as well. One of the key priorities is to try and satisfy as far as it is possible, and Ailish Angelini's report does indicate in some cases that it will never be possible, that every possible investigation has been made into every individual case. I assure the member that that is absolutely predominant in the Scottish Government's consideration of how we proceed from here. I am aware that a number of other members wish to ask questions on that very important issue, but there is a statement this afternoon, and you will have ample opportunity to ask whatever questions you wish to, and I will ensure that sufficient time is there that all of the issues in the report get a fair hearing. To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government is having with the Scottish Qualifications Agency regarding the future funding of the curriculum for elections. I am sure, as we have heard already in this session, that the whole chamber wishes luck to all of the young people taking the exams this year, not least those who are sitting in the higher English exams, as I speak, and the advanced higher English this very afternoon. In recent years we have seen some excellent exam results. I am sure that pupils' dedication and hard work and that of their teachers will once again pay off. The Scottish Government is in regular discussion with all partners, including the SQA, on the implementation of the curriculum for excellence. I add my good wishes to the pupils. The Herald newspaper reported earlier this week that a recent board meeting of SQA there were warnings issued that the current position of financial deficit is likely to continue for the foreseeable future because of the increasing costs of implementing the curriculum for excellence and the related support for teachers. Teachers whose representatives told this Parliament recently that, when it comes to the new higher and the new advanced higher, some of the preparations have barely begun. Could I ask the First Minister what is the revised estimate for the full cost of implementing curriculum for excellence, including for the new higher and the new advanced higher? I have a range of calculations following that report that show the income and expenditure balance of the Scottish Qualification Authority, which I am prepared to make available to the member. Can I point out that each year, the Scottish Government works closely with the SQA to ensure that it reaches a balanced budget position? Obviously, the obligations of implementation of the curriculum for excellence are part of that budget consideration. I am sure that that is being done and will be done, and I will provide the range of figures that give the detailed answer to our question. That ends First Minister's question. We now move to members' business. Members who leave the chamber should do so quickly and quietly. Y Llywodraeth Cymru


Lisa Marie Presley was almost assuredly best known for being the one and only child of the late great Elvis Presley. But did you know that if it hadn't been for both her and her mother Priscilla's stewardship of the Presley Trust, that we might not have as much to remember Elvis by, it's true. In fact, it's thanks to the two of them that Graceland is still the landmark it is today.  At the time, he paid the small price of just over 102K, with half that amount being paid in cash, and the other half being a tree in with his previous house. In these videos we don't reveal any addresses and even though I've done a house tour of my own place, please do not show up at any private residences because it's not safe for anyone. Graceland was originally built in 1939 by a wealthy Memphis family who would own the property and utilize it as a 500 acre farm since 1861. It was named after the original owner's daughter, Grace, and the name stuck. By the time Elvis came around in the late 50s, however, the place was most definitely down on its luck. One of the very first things Elvis did when he took ownership of the property was build a den in the basement which he then outfitted with a projector to watch films and an ice cream bar. From that point forward, the tone was set. Graceland would be a family home, a place where Elvis could relax and be himself while also allowing his parents, Vernon and Gladys, to live with him as well. It was with the help of his dear old mom that Elvis decorated Graceland for the first time, along with a little bit of assistance from interior decorator George Golden. With their input, Elvis worked his way through the house, planning colors, schemes, curtains, furnishings, and adding those infamous music gates for just over $3,000 as well as the wall of love. As for the main reception rooms, those were kept conservative and somewhat simple. Of course, Graceland would continue to be a work in progress throughout Elvis's life. The last time the house was redecorated during his lifetime was 1974. The year the king decided to turn his home into something akin to a bordello by painting it almost entirely in red. A local designer named Bill Eubanks assisted Elvis with the job turning the walls, carpets, curtains, and furnishings, all a hot Corvette shade of crimson. Meanwhile, the TV room was given a makeover as well. Only this space was painted canary yellow and spruced up further with a mirrored ceiling and walls. Speaking of the TV room, Elvis always had three TVs on the go in here. He got the idea from President Johnson, who reportedly enjoyed watching three news broadcasts at once. For Elvis, it was football, and he'd keep three games going at the same time. Then there's what's commonly known as the jungle room, otherwise known as Elvis's favorite room in the house, the den. In what very might well have been one of the first instances of a man cave, Elvis transformed his basement into a boy's paradise. They reminded him of his favorite holiday spot, Hawaii. This space was originally an outdoor patio, but it was incorporated into the home itself in the 60s. And then a water feature was added in 1965 to cascade down its stone walls. There's also mossy green shag pile carpeting, blanketing the floors and ceiling with wood paneling on the walls to complete the effect. Somewhat shockingly, those eye-catching or natively carved chairs and thrones that populate the space were not custom made. Elvis hand-picked them from a furniture storage just down the road if you can believe it. Lisa Marie spent the first few years of her life growing up on her father's massive estate. But then at only 9 years old, her father would die from a heart attack in one of Graceland's bathrooms. Even more tragically, Lisa would see his body for herself, lying face down on the carpet, and she actually remembers crying out my daddy's dead. Believe it or not, but Elvis's body wasn't removed from the property following his death. Something that Lisa Marie would later remember as being surreal, but also oddly comforting. His body was in the house for three days, and there was something very oddly comforting about that, which made it not necessarily real for me. What's more, when Elvis died, his estate was worth practically nothing. He was down to his last million and the fortune Lisa Marie was set to inherit on her 25th birthday had been dumped into a mass of tax debts. So Priscilla got to work changing all of that. She spent $500,000 refurbishing the home and restoring it, ripping out that tacky red paint Elvis installed in the 70s and replacing it with a more tasteful combination of blue, gold, and white. She then opened Graceland to the public in 1982. With Elvis's aunt Delta living in the home as a sitting tenant almost overnight, Graceland became a smashing success with 300,000 visitors traveling to check it out over the course of the first year. By the end of the 90s, Lisa Marie's estate was worth $200 million. And at Delta, the last person to ever live in the house passed away in 1993. Today, nearly 650,000 visitors each and every year make the pilgrimage to Petra Butte. Once they've made the short bus ride from the mansion gaze to the main entrance, visitors are issued with an audio recording of Priscilla and Lisa Marie, welcoming them to the miniature palace they once shared with the king. Of Graceland's nearly two dozen rooms, roughly half are out of bounds and only family members are allowed to go upstairs. The reason? Well, if you're a fan of conspiracy theories, the most popular rumor is that it's because Elvis is still alive and well living up there. As much fun as that might be to believe, we all know this family just isn't that lucky. You need any further proof of that? Look no further than the last home Lisa Marie Presley would ever own and the tragedy that unfolded there. In March of 2020, Lisa Marie Presley bought a new property for herself in the California city of Calabasas for $1.8 million. Set on a cul-de-sac in a guard gated community, this vaguely Mediterranean style stucco house was constructed in 1989 and sits with a handful of other similar looking homes. With the home recently being sold in an off-market deal, images and details are somewhat scarce, but tax records suggest this two-story villa measures in at around 3,600 square feet and both five bedrooms and four full baths, including a guest bedroom on the ground floor of the premises. For the most part, the property's exterior has remained unchanged throughout the decades. But the interior was recently remodeled to suit more current and popular trends, like the installation of top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances as well as a recessed lighting in the home's kitchen. Meanwhile, upstairs, the spa-style main bathroom is not only large, but offers dual fanaties and a glamorous glass shower with its own inset soaking tub. Out back, there's a grassy lawn to run around on, as well as a stone pathway that leads to and from the plunge-style pool. There's also some mesmerizing views of the surrounding hills. Residents who live in this gated community, one of many that populate Calabasas, pay around $439 a month in extra fees to cover the cost of 24-7 guards plus a variety of extras, like a pristinely maintained park and several sports courts. Not that Lisa Marie ever really got the chance to enjoy any of that. Scarcely four months after moving in here, her son Benjamin, the 27-year-old grandson of Elvis, took his own life at the home with a shotgun. Lisa Marie Presley's son, Elvis Presley's grandson, Benjamin Keele, has died. It was the very definition of tragedy and unsurprisingly, Lisa Marie wanted nothing to do with the home after it happened. She not only moved out, she listed the house and sold it to a non-famous woman for $2 million in March of 2021. Following which, she moved in with her former first husband and Benjamin's father, Danny Keele. Danny also owned a property in the Calabasas region, so Lisa didn't have that far to go. Despite how tragic the circumstances of her life had become, Lisa never gave up on her role as a steward to her father's estate. As recently as only a few days ago, she traveled to Graceland to give a moving speech on what would have been her father's 88th birthday, telling everyone gathered there how much their love and support has meant to her over the years. More than just that, Lisa was achingly honest about however, since her son's death, she had turned into a recluse, never wanting to leave the house unless it was to celebrate her family's legacy, like at the 2023 Golden Globes. When she was in the audience to lend her support to Austin Butler, as he took home the award for best actor, thanks to his portrayal of Elvis in the Boz Lerman biopic. Just two days after that ceremony ended, the LA County Sheriff's Department responded to a call in the city of Calabasas for a female in her 50s that had suffered a cardiac arrest. That woman was Lisa Marie Presley. She was Lisa Marie's housekeeper who found her unresponsive in her bedroom and right around that same time, her ex, Danny, returned home from taking the kids to school and he began performing CPR until the paramedics arrived. Lisa Marie was then transported to West Hills Hospital where her mother met her. Unfortunately, Lisa Marie Presley wouldn't be able to pull through. She passed away from a heart attack, the same condition that took the life of her father at only 54 years old. I'm not gonna lie, this is a heartbreaking conclusion to a story that wasn't exactly feel good in the first place. Considering what the Presley family has meant to the history of not only pop culture, but in many ways America itself, you'd hope for a happier ending. But sometimes that's just not in the cards. Here's hoping that Lisa's surviving children can carry on her family's legacy as proudly as she once did. All right, everyone, that's gonna bring this house tour to a close. But before we wrap up, give some thought towards the following question. Considering no one has officially lived in Graceland since Aunt Delta's passing, what do you think is upstairs that the family is keeping off limits? Let's hear your most interesting theories in the comments down below and be sure to leave your condolences for Lisa Marie and the Presley family. Otherwise, like, subscribe, and turn on your notifications to never miss an episode. Thanks for tuning in. My name is Curie the Vampire Slayer and I'll see you all on the next tour. Bye.