Guzman said her grades have suffered because she had to balance homework, two jobs and family obligations. She usually finds time to study only between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m.
If she is awarded a scholarship, she could cut down on weekend work hours, she said.
"It's frustrating to know that I could get better grades if I didn't have to work all the time," she said.
Such competing priorities affect many low-income students, especially Latinos -- about half of the 25,000 students at Santa Ana College. Many of their parents did not go to college, and the pressure to work rather than go to school is strong, students said.
"If you grow up in the Hispanic community, your parents tell you, 'Oh mijo, you have to work. Why go to school?' " said English student Vilma Garcia, one of several students who is starting a club for immigrants who attend the college.
Because of scholarships she has won, Garcia doesn't have to work and is in the running for valedictorian before she transfers to UC Irvine to study English literature.
Instructors at Santa Ana College would like to see more successes such as Garcia but said money often gets in the way.
Issac Guzman, a counselor at the college, said that as students add up what they will have to spend on textbooks and course fees, class sizes drop.
"Our students are not coming from fancy-dancy high schools with off-the-chart SAT scores," he said. "We're talking about poor people who are first generation. They realize when they get to college that they have to come up with serious money."
Guzman, who has pledged one year's worth of course fees to the fund, said he did not want to see any more students slip away for lack of money.
"Any assistance we give is a great relief for them because that's X number of hours they don't have to work overtime to pay for books," he said. "I'd rather have them studying than working overtime."
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tony.barboza@latimes.com
