(1) Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, provides awards to certain California postsecondary students to help pay the costs of postsecondary education. Existing law sets the maximum Cal Grant A and B tuition award amount for new recipients in the 2023–24 award year at $9,358 for students attending independent institutions of higher education. Existing law authorizes community colleges to award an associate degree for transfer, and provides that the Cal Grant A and B tuition award amount for future years for students attending independent institutions of higher education depends on the number of commitments those institutions make to accept associate degrees for transfer. Beginning with the 2024–25 award year, existing law sets the maximum tuition award amount for new Cal Grant A and B recipients at either $9,358 or $8,056, depending upon whether the number of new unduplicated transfer students accepted by those institutions who have been given associate degree for transfer commitments in the prior award year exceeds statutory targets. This bill would set, beginning with the 2026–27 award year, and subject to an appropriation for this purpose, the maximum tuition award amount for new Cal Grant A and B recipients at either $9,708 or $8,056, with the higher amount conditioned on the achievement of the target numbers for associate degree for transfer commitments that apply for the prior award year. (2) Existing law establishes a California Community College Expanded Entitlement Award for students who were not awarded a Cal Grant A or B award at the time of the student's high school graduation but who will be enrolled at a California community college during the award year and meet other criteria. Existing law authorizes a student who receives a California Community College Expanded Entitlement Award to subsequently transfer to a University of California or California State University campus and remain eligible to receive the award. Existing law also authorizes a student who receives a California Community College Expanded Entitlement Award and who subsequently transfers to an independent institution of higher education to remain eligible to receive the award, but only if General Fund moneys over the multiyear forecasts beginning in the 2024–25 fiscal year are available to support ongoing augmentations and actions, and if funding is provided in the annual Budget Act to implement the Cal Grant Reform Act. This bill would instead authorize a student who receives a California Community College Expanded Entitlement Award and who subsequently transfers to an independent institution of higher education to remain eligible to receive the award without the above-described conditions.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the trustees to control and expend all money appropriated for the support and maintenance of the university. This bill, the California State University Transparency Act of 2025, would require the California State University, on or before July 1, 2027, to include on its internet website certain information about each expenditure of state funds, as defined, by the California State University for expenditures that exceed $10,000, in a format that allows the public to search and aggregate that information, and to also include on its internet website, among other things, the capability for a user to give input to the California State University regarding the utility of the information and to give recommendations to the California State University for improvements to the manner in which the information is provided on the internet website.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and independent institutions of higher education, as defined, as 4 segments of postsecondary education in the state. Existing law establishes the Designation of California Black-Serving Institutions to recognize campuses of these segments that excel at providing academic resources to Black and African American students. Existing law establishes a governing board to approve or deny initial and renewal applications to receive this designation. Existing law designates the California State University Statewide Central Office for the Advancement of Black Excellence as the managing entity and requires it to act as a neutral administrative body tasked with, among other duties, developing the application processes and processing and presenting applications to the governing board. This bill would establish the Designation of California Black-Serving Institutions Grant Program as a competitive grant program to develop and implement new, or expand existing, academic resources and student support services for underserved students, including, but not limited to, Black and African American students. The bill would require the governing board to approve or deny grant applications. The bill would designate the California State University Statewide Central Office for the Advancement of Black Excellence as the managing entity for the grant program and would require it to act as a neutral administrative body tasked with, among other duties, developing the grant application form and a process for grant applicants to apply for grants, and processing and presenting grant applications to the governing board, as specified. The bill would require the managing entity to submit an annual report to the Department of Finance, the Governor, and the Legislature on the grant program, as specified. This bill would establish the Designation of California Black-Serving Institutions Grant Program Fund in the State Treasury, and would require all moneys in the fund to be continuously appropriated to the managing entity to allocate to grant applicants awarded grants pursuant to the provisions described above. The bill would appropriate $75,000,000 from the General Fund to the Designation of California Black-Serving Institutions Grant Program Fund for purposes of awarding grants to California State University campuses and community college districts that apply for grants, as specified.
Existing law, the Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards, the Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Expanded 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. Existing law, the Cal Grant Reform Act, revises and recasts the provisions establishing and governing the existing Cal Grant Program into a new Cal Grant Program. Existing law specifies that the act becomes operative only if General Fund moneys over the multiyear forecasts beginning in the 2024–25 fiscal year are available to support ongoing augmentations and actions, and if funding is provided in the annual Budget Act to implement the act. Under either Cal Grant Program that is operative, existing law establishes eligibility requirements for awards under the program for participating students attending qualifying institutions, including, among others, California residency requirements, as provided. Existing law establishes the Middle Class Scholarship Program (MCSP) under the administration of the commission. Existing law makes an undergraduate student eligible for a scholarship award under the MCSP if the student is enrolled at the University of California or the California State University, or enrolled in upper division coursework in a community college baccalaureate program, and meets certain eligibility requirements, including, among others, that the applicant meets the eligibility requirements for a Cal Grant. This bill would extend Cal Grant and MCSP eligibility to a student who was not a resident of California at the time of high school graduation or its equivalent but meets all other applicable eligibility requirements and is a dependent natural or adopted child, stepchild, or spouse of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed outside of California on active duty, if the member of the Armed Forces of the United States otherwise maintains California as their state of legal residence. The bill also would make conforming changes.
