Financial aid reform ‘put on pause’ amid pandemic

A state effort to significantly boost financial aid to cover non-tuition costs for community college students “will be put on pause for now,” said Marlene Garcia, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission, during a commission meeting March 26. The commission, which is a state agency, in February proposed a reform of California’s financial aid system that would have resulted in more than 300,000 community college students becoming newly eligible for Cal Grants, state awards that students don’t have to pay back, to cover non-tuition costs. The maximum grants available to students also would have more than tripled from $1,672 to $6,000.

Implementing the reform would cost between $1.1 and $1.6 billion annually. Garcia said that “the guidance from the state is don’t expect any new funding” amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, Garcia added that students’ basic needs should be a “key investment” of any funding that becomes available through federal or state emergency stimulus packages.