Financial aid recipients met with UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks at a fireside chat Tuesday evening to advocate a more stable source of year-round financial aid for students.

While the students expressed their appreciation for the financial support they currently receive, they also voiced concerns about gaps in the availability of financial resources, especially during the summer. Because financial aid does not usually extend over the summer break, many students cannot afford food and housing during the summer, leading them to sign up for classes just to receive funding, according to the attendees.

In fact, there are students — such as foster youth who do not have a home to return to — who sign up for summer classes just for the summer housing, said junior Monica Banks, a Cal Independent Scholars Network program student.

“I should not have to take classes so I have somewhere to live,” Banks said at the meeting.

Minda Murphy, a fifth-year student parent, said student parents also face financial difficulties over the summer, and the break in funding causes her to be “chronically running behind” when it comes to paying rent and other expenses.

After hearing students describe their experiences taking out multiple emergency loans to cover rent payments, Dirks expressed his desire to find a solution, saying the debt from loans could negatively affect career choices made by students.

According to the campus Office of Planning & Analysis, as of July 2013, the current average debt at graduation for students who take out loans is just more than $17,000, and 42 percent of undergraduates borrowed at any time through any loan program. The national average debt load for the class of 2012 was $29,400.

“You’re less likely to sign up for Teach For America, Peace Corps or different kinds of things that don’t necessarily come with a lot of return,” Dirks said. “What we really are concerned about is that you might make some decisions to do a career that is predicated on income and not on your passion.”

Students also discussed bridging the dialogue between donors, alumni and the students who receive scholarships to increase opportunities to express their gratitude.

“It’s an unparalleled experience to put a face to the name of the person who’s got your back financially,” said junior Jennifer Fei, a regents’ and chancellor’s scholar and former Daily Californian staff writer. “I’m confident the more alumni know the faces of the people and the stories of the lives that they’re impacting, the more they and other alumni would be empowered to give back financially and emotionally.”

Dirks encouraged the students to participate in events such as the Thankathon, an event hosted annually by the Cal Alumni Association to thank its donors and to show its appreciation as well as to attract more alumni to donate. Dirks admitted, however, that it would take time to see significant changes in the amount of financial resources available to students.

“Is this going to help you in your student time? Probably not,” Dirks said. “But it is going to help students who come from the same kinds of backgrounds, the same kinds of struggles.”

This is Dirks’ seventh fireside chat of the academic year. The chats are organized to allow him to discuss important issues with students from sustainability to challenges faced by the undocumented community.