Despite abundant funds, Cal Grants miss set quota

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By Anna Luisa G. Paningbatan
Daily Bruin Contributor

Gov. Gray Davis proclaimed February “Cal Grant
Month,” in an effort to spread the word about financial aid
opportunities for college students. But after many of this
year’s grants were awarded it became clear the program would
fail to meet its quota.

Thousands of students vying for the state-funded grants were
rejected and it looks as though thousands of dollars allocated for
grants will be returned to the state’s general fund, rather
than going toward student aid.

Meanwhile, thousands of candidates who did not receive grants,
may be awarded after all if mistakes or incomplete information on
their Free Applications for Student Aid are corrected.

Applications were due early in March and awards were announced
last week.

Throughout the state, Cal Grants help thousands of students pay
for college.

“It helps keep the cost that I’m paying down and
reduces the amount of loan money I have to pay in the
future,” said Aleda Krill, a third-year marine biology
student who has been receiving the award since after high
school.

The California Student Aid Commission, the main agency
responsible for the operation of the Cal Grant program, had lowered
it’s initial projection of 90,000 “entitlement”
grants ““ which are reserved and guaranteed for recent high
school graduates who meet the eligibility requirements ““ to
65,000 before grants were awarded. But they still failed to reach
the goal, falling short, as of now, by over 11,000.

Preliminary results showed 53,700 applicants had been approved
as of this week, and only a few more are expected to be
awarded.

“The figures are disappointing,” said Paul Mitchell,
chief consultant to the Assembly Committee on Higher Education.

Though projections are low, many students who filled out
applications incompletely or with inaccurate information may
receive grants once their mistakes are fixed.

Twenty-four thousand students need corrected information and
7,000 more students are expected to receive grants as information
gets updated, said Carole Solov, a spokesperson for the California
Student Aid Commission.

As for not reaching the quota on entitlement grants, Solov said
the Commission always over-projects the amount of money budgeted
for the the grants in order to make sure that there is enough to
provide for the amount of students who are eligible.

Some “competitive” grants ““ which go to
transfer or returning students ““ have been awarded already,
and they will continue to be awarded until September.

Over 60,000 denial letters were sent to students who applied for
competitive grants. Seventy-one thousand students applied during
the March deadline and an estimated 11,250 competitive grants were
awarded.

These figures ““ both the rejections and awards ““ are
expected to double in September, as the other half of the
competitive grants are scheduled to be released at that time.

Though more money had been allocated for entitlement grants than
will actually be given out, the money cannot be transferred to go
to competitive grants. Rather, the money is returned to the state
general fund.

Last year, an assembly bill was introduced to add $35 million
towards competitive grants. Another bill, AB 2494, was proposed
this year to have funds unencumbered in the entitlement category by
June 30 to be appropriated in the competitive grants. Both bills
were rejected by the appropriations committee, Mitchell said.

“Because of the current state of the economy and the
committee’s commitment to the program as written, the bill
suffered from opposition,” he said.