Students chanted "Si se puede!" as they marched through Oakland Monday to celebrate Cesar Chavez Day and promote the passage of the federal and California DREAM Acts.

The third annual event follows the reintroduction earlier this month of the federal and state DREAM Acts in the Congress and state legislature, respectively.

The acts would make undocumented students eligible for college financial aid from the government.

Unlike the state act, under the federal version, students who arrived in the U.S. before the age of 15 and have been in the country for five years would be granted six years of residency. During this time, they would have to complete two years of college or military service to receive citizenship.

Millions of students who come to the U.S. as small children do not have access to an affordable college education because they have not become citizens, according to Tania Kappner, an organizer for civil rights activist group BAMN.

"The DREAM Act would change this," she said.

UC spokesperson Chris Harrington said the UC system has between 340 and 630 undocumented students.

Marie Felde, a spokesperson for UC Berkeley, said Chancellor Robert Birgeneau supports the federal act.

"He believes it's a matter of fairness," she said. "(Undocumented students) have been encouraged to learn and to succeed in K-12 schools, but when they apply to get financial aid, they get turned away."

Ronald Cruz, a student at Boalt Hall and an organizer for BAMN, said he is confident the federal act will pass under President Barack Obama.

"There's this greater expectation that you don't have to accept things as they are," Cruz said.

Magally Miranda, a freshman at Pasadena City College in Southern California, was among the students who participated in the march, which ended with a rally at Oakland City Hall.

Miranda called the current policies preventing undocumented students from receiving financial aid "a waste of talent and a waste of resources."

Although Miranda was born in the U.S., her brother arrived from Mexico when he was seven months old. She said he was accepted to Cal Poly Pomona when he first applied to colleges, but could not attend because of the high cost.

"People are treating it as if immigrant students aren't deserving of an elite education," Miranda said.

Tags: DREAM ACT, CESAR CHAVEZ, MARCH