Student financial aid: Student Aid Commission: extension of application deadlines.

Existing law, the Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards, the Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Cal Grant 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. Existing law also establishes the Middle Class Scholarship Program under the commission's administration. Existing law establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions. The eligibility requirements under these programs, as well as other financial aid programs administered by the commission, include meeting various application deadlines. Existing law, for example, requires applicants for Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards and Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards to submit, by March 2, complete financial aid applications in the academic year of high school graduation or equivalent or in the academic year immediately following high school graduation for the immediately following award year. Similarly, existing law requires applicants for Middle Class Scholarship Program awards to complete and submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application or an equivalent application by no later than March 2 of the award year. This bill would authorize the Student Aid Commission to grant a postponement of an application deadline of up to 30 calendar days for any financial aid program administered by the commission, as specified. This authority would apply if the commission receives a formal request to extend a deadline from a designated educational official and the commission finds that a qualifying event, as defined, has occurred that, in the judgment of the commission, has had an adverse effect on the ability of pupils or students within a school district, community college district, or an area or region within the state, such as a city or county, to successfully complete and submit their financial aid applications by the established application deadline. The bill would specify procedures for the submission of requests for the postponement of deadlines under the bill and the notification of designated individuals and entities if such a request is granted. With respect to application deadlines for pupils or students applying for financial aid for the 2019–20 academic year, in response to a formal request from an individual referenced in the bill that is received no later than 10 business days after the act adding this provision becomes operative, the bill would authorize the commission, by a unanimous vote of its elective officers, to retroactively postpone these deadlines in accordance with the procedures established in the bill. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.