Op-Ed: Reopen California and Unlock Financial Aid

Joseph Williams and Mary Figueroa | BVN guest commentary

With California reopening on June 15, we must unlock the financial aid system that is preventing the Inland Empire and people across the state from offering college and professional education.

For example, say you are 45 years old, an unemployed person who experiences a homeless person looking for new professional skills at a community college. Unfortunately, given your age, the state expects you to return to high school for GPA certification before entering the financial aid lottery with no guarantee of receiving a college scholarship.

Or suppose you graduated from high school five years ago. Instead of going to college, you got a minimum wage job to help your family. But now you want to advance your career with a college degree. Unfortunately, since you graduated from high school, the state will put you at the end of the funding line. As a result, you can choose to use a loan, credit card, or high quality cash advance to pay for college expenses, textbooks, and basic living expenses.

If your high school grade is less than 3.0 GPA, do your best with government funding to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, or CSU.

So many families and students are doing their best to recover from a pandemic – economically and educationally – we need to open up California’s financial aid system to them. Your age, high school diploma, or grade point average shouldn’t be an obstacle to a better life. Not California.

Students, educators, employers, nonprofits, political analysts, and social justice advocates all agree that California’s 50-year-old Cal Grant grant program needs to be modernized. In various states like California, it’s about fairness and opportunities for everyone.

This Stakeholder Cal Grant Equity Framework It is outlined in Parliamentary Act 1456, co-authored by Congressman Jose Medina (D-Riverside), Congressman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), and Congressman Connie Leiva (D-Chino).

This proposal updates the Cal Grant program and removes fairness barriers such as age, school holidays, and high GPA requirements. It goes further by making government grants more understandable. Rather than having three separate grant funds known as Cal Grants A, B, and C, the proposal integrates them into Cal Grant 2 for community college students and Cal Grant 4 for UC and CSU students.

With these simplification updates, the California Financial Aid Program is open to students of all ages, including low- and middle-income students, student parents, and returnees.

In addition, many community college students are key professionals in emergency care, forest fire fighting, grocery store inventory, warehouse work, and product delivery. They carried on through the darkest hours of the pandemic so others could stay home safely. Helping these important Californians earn their degrees and qualifications and achieve economic mobility is a good reason to change the California financial assistance system.

If lawmakers and governor pass the Cal Grant Equity Framework in the 2021-22 state budget, nearly 280,000 Californians will turn to debt-free universities.

When you return to California, make sure the grant system is largely throttled to encourage hard-working California college and career dreams.

Joseph Williams serves on the California Community College Board of Directors and the San Bernardino Community College District Board of Directors.

Mary Figueroa is a member of the Riverside Community College District Council and the Inland Valley Councilors and Chief Executive Officers Association.

Op-Ed: Re-open California and unlock grant source link Op-Ed: Re-open California and unlock grant

source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/op-ed-reopen-california-and-unlock-financial-aid/