Student financial aid: waiver or deferment of fees and costs: foster youth.

Fixed a drafting error in Section 69509.7(a)(1). The old version contained a garbled sentence reading 'upon the student's initial enrollment at the postsecondary educational institution until the student has received an initial disbursement of the student's financial aid award. Enrollment institution, do either of the following.' The enrolled version corrects this to read 'upon the student's initial enrollment at the postsecondary educational institution, do either of the following:' removing the misplaced 'until' clause (which is already captured in option B) and the leftover fragment.

The legislative counsel digest was corrected from 'postsecondary educational institutional institution' to 'postsecondary educational institution,' fixing a duplicated word typo.

Subdivision (a) was restructured so that institutions must now explicitly choose between two options: (A) waive the unpaid portion of enrollment fees and costs, or (B) defer them until the student receives an initial disbursement of financial aid. Previously these were stated as a single combined 'waive or defer' action without separate sub-options.

The definition of 'enrollment fees and costs' (registration fees, mandatory campus fees, housing and meals, health insurance, books/supplies/materials/equipment, summer course costs) was moved from the main body of subdivision (a) into a new paragraph (2), with lettered sub-items (A through F) replacing the previous numbered list.

Cross-reference in subdivision (b) was updated from 'paragraph (5) of subdivision (a)' to 'paragraph (5) subparagraph (E) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a)' to match the new numbering structure.

Minor typo corrections: 'that who' changed to 'who', and a duplicated word 'institutional institution' corrected to 'institution.'

The obligation on institutions changed from 'defer' to 'waive or defer' the unpaid portion of enrollment fees and costs, meaning institutions may now be required to eliminate fees entirely rather than just postpone payment.

New subdivision (b) requires that if an institution is unable to waive or defer costs for books, supplies, materials, or equipment, it must provide the student with clear information about available campus resources, institutional programs, or community-based assistance to help cover those costs.

Students must have submitted a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or California Dream Act Application (CADAA), if applicable, in addition to being a foster youth or former foster youth. This adds a documentation requirement that was not in the introduced version.

New subdivision (c) encourages community college districts to use existing funding sources to implement the section, specifically naming the NextUp program and the Student Equity and Achievement Program as potential funding sources.

The bill was restructured from a single paragraph into three subdivisions (a), (b), and (c), with the list of covered fees renumbered from letters to numbers within subdivision (a). Coauthors Assembly Member Bennett and Senator Wahab were added.