Student financial aid: Cal Grant Program.

Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program (Cal Grant Program) , establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, the Cal Grant C Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions, as defined. The existing definition of a qualifying institution includes, among other institutions, California private or independent postsecondary educational institutions that participate in the Pell Grant Program and in at least 2 of the following federal campus-based programs: federal Work-Study, the Perkins Loan Program, and the Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant Program. Existing law requires the commission to certify by October 1 of each year a qualifying institution's latest 3-year cohort default rate and graduation rate as most recently reported by the United States Department of Education. This bill would express findings and declarations, would delete "campus-based" from the description of the federal programs referenced above in connection with the California private or independent postsecondary educational institutions that are defined as qualifying institutions, and would replace the Perkins Loan Program with the Stafford Loan Program for purposes of qualifying a private or independent postsecondary educational institution for Cal Grants Awards. The bill would change the date the commission needs to certify the institution's latest official 3-year cohort default rate and graduation rate to November 1, and would define the graduation rate of a qualifying institution to be the percentage of full-time, first-time degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduate students who graduate in 150% or less of the expected time to complete the degree requirements as most recently reported by the United States Department of Education. The bill would also delete obsolete provisions and make conforming and nonsubstantive changes.