Sacramento State hosted its sixth annual Feria de Educacion on Oct. 13 to help educate thousands of Hispanic students and parents on preparing for college.

Sac State President Robert Nelsen gave one of several speeches in the opening ceremony at 10 a.m., some of it in Spanish, encouraging the pursuit of a higher education alongside Univision 19 news anchors Viviana Paez and Jairo Diaz Pedraza.

“There are scholarships. Every student can come to the university,” Nelsen said in a speech. “Without all of you, we are nothing.”

In partnership with Univision 19, UniMas 64 and the California State University, Sac State offered multiple resources involving financial aid and admissions within or just outside the University Union ballrooms with live performances at Serna Plaza from a mariachi band and Aztec warrior dances.

Assistant Vice President for Strategic Diversity Initiatives Viridiana Diaz said one of her favorite parts of the event is being able to bring students of all ages to campus and introduce them to the concept of achieving a college degree.

“We have students from elementary school, middle school, high school, and many of them are placing foot on a college campus for the first time in their lives,” Diaz said. “Then, of course, it’s beautiful to also see the families that want a better future for their kids. Education will transform your life, and it will change the future for every generation that comes after you.”

Vice President for Student Affairs Edward Mills agreed with Diaz that education can bring many benefits for those who pursue it and for their family.

“If you look at the statistics, your health is going to be better, your benefit is going to be better, it’s a way to help your whole family,” Mills said. “Getting a college education is a very important part of really helping our society move forward, all of us together.”

From 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., resource corners were held inside the University Union Ballroom 3, one of which was the new addition to the program, the transfer center.

According to Miguel Molina, associate director of admissions, community college students could bring their unofficial transcripts to see if they are transfer-ready for colleges like Sac State, University of California schools and private universities.

“We have students making appointments, a lot of them checked in online,” Molina said. “They’re bringing their unofficial transcripts, and when they sit down with us, we’re able to just confirm for them, ‘Yup you’re ready to apply,’ and then start them on their timeline.”

During the same time as the resource corners, several workshops were taught in different rooms of the University Union, such as Forest Suite on the second floor to assist filling out college applications and in University Union Ballroom 3, which hosted a workshop corner for parents to be educated by the Parent Institute for Quality Education on learning how to support a child in college.

“Students know what to do sometimes, but their parents don’t, and so we’re giving parents information on what to do,” Molina said. “We also have opportunities for them. We have GED and high school equivalent programs. They had no idea they could go to school too and get financial aid.”