Student financial aid: Cal Grant B and Cal Grant C awards: financial aid book advance program.

Existing law, known as the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, establishes, among other programs, the Cal Grant B program and the Cal Grant C Program under the administration of the Student Aid Commission and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under those programs. This bill, beginning with the 2019–20 academic year, would require each Cal Grant participating institution, as a condition of its voluntary participation in the Cal Grant Program, to implement a financial aid book advance program that would provide a line of credit at the institution's campus bookstore to students receiving Cal Grant B, Cal Grant C, federal Pell Grant, or other financial aid dispersed to the student for educational expenses for the purchase of books and educational materials before the Cal Grant B or Cal Grant C funds are disbursed to the student. The bill would provide for a reduction in the amount of these grant funds disbursed to a student based on the amount of credit expended by the student at the institution's campus bookstore and would provide for reimbursement to the institution's campus bookstore for the amount of the credit expended by the student. The bill would exempt an institution that does not have a campus bookstore from these requirements.