Cal Grant may be cut back

As Gov. Schwarzenegger unveils his budget proposal this morning,
proposed reductions in higher education spending could carry over
to the Cal Grant program and its beneficiaries.

Schwarzenegger is likely to include in his budget proposal a 10
percent increase for undergraduate student fees in the University
of California and California State University systems.

Reductions in spending could cut into higher education financial
aid funding. A decrease in the amount of aid received by students
who qualify, specifically in the Cal Grant program, is
anticipated.

“We would need to reduce expectations. We expect that the
(Cal Grant) budget would tighten because we expect the
governor’s proposal to tighten our funds,” said Diana
Fuentes-Michel, executive director of the California Student Aid
Commission 2000.

The state Legislature voted in 2000 to guarantee Cal Grants to
all eligible students, sparking a restructuring of the program.
This year is the fourth and final year for the Cal Grant program to
complete the phase-in of students who became eligible after
2000.

This year, the Cal Grant program needs $46 million in order to
accommodate all the qualifying applicants, Fuentes-Michel said.
However, this funding could now be in jeopardy.

There are two types of Cal Grants that aid students who qualify,
according to their determined financial need and GPA.

This academic year, about 2,129 UCLA students received Cal Grant
A, and about 3,129 received Cal Grant B, totaling more than 5,000
students.

The number of students who receive Cal Grants has doubled in
size from 30,000 during the 1999-2000 school year to 60,000 in
2003-2004, said Carole Solov, a spokeswoman for the Cal Grant
program.

The increasing pool of students in the program can be attributed
to the four-year renewable longevity of Cal Grants.

The Cal Grant program expects Schwarzenegger’s budget
proposal will allow the program to continue providing aid to
students who currently receive Cal Grants.

“We do anticipate that the administration would propose
measures that will contain the gross of the program,” said
Carole Solov, spokeswoman for the Cal Grant program.

It is possible the eligibility qualifications for the Cal Grant
will be changed to make it more difficult for students to obtain a
grant.

Cal Grant awards aid based on family income and the
applicant’s GPA.

Current Cal Grant income ceilings for the 2004-2005 year are
posted as, for a dependent student in a family of four, $67,600 for
Cal Grant A, and $31,900 for Cal Grant B.

An extensive legislative process will follow the
governor’s proposal. If the state budget proposal is passed
and signed before CSAC’s own July 1 budget deadline, changes
could be directly applied to this year’s Cal Grant
applicants, Solov said.