Edwin Chikukwa

Edwin Chikukwa attended the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) where he worked at the Financial Aid Department as a student advisor. As an advisor, he witnessed how inadequate state and federal financial aid was impeding low-income students and students of color from graduating. This inspired him to lead a statewide campaign that resulted in California increasing its summer financial aid for public university students. His ability to lead this campaign and graduate with honors in his major is why UCSB made him the commencement speaker and honored him with the Jeremey D. Friedman Outstanding Senior Award for leadership and academic excellence. Upon graduation, he joined the California Senate as a fellow for state Senator Tom Umberg. After completing the fellowship, he joined the California Student Aid Commission as the Cash for College Program Coordinator. Under his tenure, he broke the program’s record for most workshops in a cycle by 200 workshops and oversaw California improve its first-time high school senior financial aid application completion ranking from 25th to 13th in the nation. After law school, he plans to continue advocating for low-income Californians. Kuvimbanashe is a 1L at UCLA School of Law.