Lorena Rodriguez has been appointed UC Santa Cruz’s Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships. Most recently serving as the Deputy Director of Financial Aid, Lorena has provided remarkable expertise, dedication and leadership throughout her time on campus.
Lorena began her professional journey with UC Santa Cruz as a Financial Aid Adviser in 2013. In 2016 she was appointed the Compliance Manager where she worked to resolve the department's most complex financial aid cases. Most recently serving as the Deputy Director of Financial Aid, Lorena has provided remarkable expertise, dedication and leadership throughout her time on campus.
Lorena assumes this new role with extensive experience dating back to 2000 when she started her career at EdFund, the California Student Loan Guarantor as a student loan counselor. Since then, she has held various positions in multiple sectors of higher education which include financial aid analyst at CSU, Monterey Bay. Throughout her tenure in financial aid, she has had the opportunity to work on a variety of financial aid programs with the Department of Education. Her work in financial aid grew to include organizational administration, strategic planning, forecasting, audit management, aid packaging, scholarships, and compliance risk. Lorena’s passion for financial aid lies in her commitment to making significant contributions to student success, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, as well as her dedication to supporting staff in their professional growth and the important work they provide to our campus, students and families.
Born in Mexico, Lorena and her family left their country and migrated to the United States when she was fourteen. Her family spent a year in Orange County before moving to South Monterey County where she attended and graduated from Gonzales High School.
During her participation in a campus tour her junior year in high school, Lorena found UC Santa Cruz to be her home. She stated “I had only been in this country for a couple of years and like many immigrants, I looked forward to achieving the American Dream. As I found myself listening to the tour guide describe the campus in the middle of the Cowell courtyard, I knew UC Santa Cruz was the place where I could reach that and many other dreams. I am now a UC Santa Cruz graduate, and privileged to be serving in a position where I can help future SLUGS accomplish their goals.”
