CSUN University News Clippings

Governor’s plan could force some out of college

(May 28, 2009)

By Matt Krupnick

A proposed end to California’s main financial-aid program for college students would increase student debt and prevent some from pursuing higher education, experts and college officials said Wednesday.

The alarmed reactions came a day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested cutting Cal Grants for more than 200,000 new and returning college students.

The proposal was part of a slate of cuts outlined by the governor as ways to reduce California’s more than $23 billion deficit.

Schwarzenegger has said he and the Legislature are being forced to make painful cuts because of a dramatic loss of state revenue, complicated by last week’s failure of five statewide ballot measures.

At least 118,300 students would lose their entire grant, worth up to $9,708, for the fall term, according to the Berkeley-based Institute for College Access and Success.

The grant money can be applied to both private and public school tuition.

The plan, which must be approved by the Legislature, would make life difficult for students who already have planned out their college finances, said Lauren Asher, the institute’s acting president.

The grants serve mostly low-income students who may not have a lot of other options.

“It both sends a really discouraging signal about college affordability and it creates an immediate crisis,” she said.

“Even if it doesn’t happen, the uncertainty will have ripple effects beyond this year.”

Although most of the affected students would be able to make up the difference through other grants or loans, the Cal Grant’s demise would throw recipients back into the often confusing financial-aid process shortly before school begins.

While the new state budget is supposed to take effect July 1, legislative battles in recent years have delayed the budget’s passage until late summer.

At Cal State East Bay in Hayward, school leaders are waiting for new developments before alerting students to the Cal Grant situation, said Rhonda Johnson, the university’s financial-aid director. The school distributes more than $3 million in Cal Grants every year, she said.

“I can’t conceive of a world without Cal Grants,” Johnson said.

“I’m trying not to think about it.”

If the scholarships are eliminated, the university probably will shift grants usually given to other students to the former Cal Grant recipients, she said.

But that would leave many students to scramble for last-minute aid, she said.

The loss of the Cal Grants would be tempered slightly by a concurrent rise in federal programs, such as Pell Grants and tax credits.

But those increases would not cover the loss of state aid for most students, forcing more borrowing

Publication: Contra Costa Times