With Free Software for Federal Pupil Support (FAFSA) delays and plummeting functions, California is extending monetary assist entry for all college students who want it.
The California Pupil Support Fee reports a 25% fall in highschool senior FAFSA functions — a lower of 48,000 college students — in comparison with February of final 12 months.
Total, FAFSA functions statewide have dropped by 14%, whereas California Dream Act (CADAA) functions have dropped 38%.
In response, the state has prolonged this 12 months’s FAFSA and CADAA utility deadline by 30 days, from March 3 to April 2.
Round 55% of California college students obtain federal grants, near the nationwide fee of 56%.
Whereas FAFSA issues aren’t new — rollout delays and technical glitches throughout final 12 months’s cycle led to a 9% decline in functions as of August 2024 — many consultants and college students attribute a lot of this 12 months’s decline to fears that undocumented college students could have their info focused for deportation.
The share of economic aid-applying college students with at the least one father or mother who’s undocumented has fallen 44% this February in comparison with final, from about 30,000 Californians to 17,000.
“Issues like eliminating the U.S. Division of Schooling, freezing federal funding and growing immigration enforcement is main many college students to ask themselves whether or not it’s secure and even potential to use for monetary assist … with their future in query,” stated Dr. Daisy Gonzales, govt director of the California Pupil Support Fee (CSAC), at a Thursday, February 27 Ethnic Media Companies briefing on the state deadline extension.
“Whereas we will’t speculate on how the federal administration could use the data collected by way of FAFSA,” she continued, CADAA utility info “is held by the state of California, and can solely be used to find out eligibility for state and institution-based monetary assist.”
“I’m the daughter of immigrants, and grew up in foster care in LA County. I wouldn’t be who I’m right this moment if I weren’t in a position to entry monetary assist on the age of 17, go to neighborhood faculty and finally switch to a UC,” Gonzales added. “Extending this deadline means extending hope and help like this in actual time.”
For college kids needing assist making use of, CSAC — which administers public greater training state assist — has free on-line and in-person Cash for College workshops, and cellphone and electronic mail hotlines.
“The hit in monetary assist functions we’re seeing proper now could be even worse than what we noticed throughout a worldwide pandemic,” stated Catalina Cifuentes, CSAC chair and govt director of faculty and profession readiness within the Riverside County Workplace of Schooling.
“At the very least in the course of the pandemic, lots of these college students got here again,” she continued. “I’m anxious that by the point these college students and households understand they may have gotten tuition and costs coated, It’s too late. They might have full time jobs by then, youngsters, spouses, and coming again to highschool is so tough for working adults.”
In Riverside County, which serves over 420,000 Okay-12 college students throughout 23 faculty districts, “we have now one of many decrease faculty educated grownup populations in California … and a excessive quantity of scholars which can be first of their household to go to varsity,” Cifuentes defined. “What we inform them is: Apply. See what occurs. You might have loads of time to resolve if you wish to pursue post-secondary, however you solely have this window to get the utmost assist accessible.”
“With two youthful sisters to consider, it was a extremely powerful resolution to determine whether or not faculty was even an choice for me, and whether or not I used to be ever going to have the ability to make it,” stated Keiry Saravia, a CSAC commissioner and a junior English educating main at California State College, Northridge (CSUN).
“I’m a first-generation scholar born and raised in Los Angeles to 2 immigrant mother and father from El Salvador,” she continued. “I hope to go to regulation faculty after this and turn into an immigration and prison lawyer … if I wasn’t in a position to get monetary assist by way of a Cal Grant, I wouldn’t have even thought-about going to regulation faculty. I might have been extra dedicated to serving to my household and guaranteeing that my sisters might go to varsity.”
“Proper now, even right here at CSUN, the place a number of us have already submitted our our FAFSA, we’re nonetheless getting a number of misinformation about whether or not we’ll be eligible once more, whether or not it’s even possible, whether or not our info can be secure, as a result of we’re a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, and a number of undocumented college students are scared,” defined Saravia.
“However it simply takes college students persevering with to push for assist. Extra college students must know that they don’t need to cease after one utility. They’ll preserve making use of till they’re eligible … as a result of with out these alternatives, many wouldn’t be within the positions that they’re in now, me included,” she added.
“We hear rather a lot nowadays about scholar debt, rising tuition, skepticism concerning the worth of upper training,” stated Shawn Brick, affiliate vice provost of scholar monetary assist on the UC Workplace of the President. “We have to focus not simply on return on funding, however the worth by way of understanding the choices it offers you for the remainder of your life, educationally and employment-wise.”
The UC system, which incorporates 10 campuses, has prolonged its personal monetary assist precedence submitting deadline to April 2, matching the state.
Within the 2022-2023 educational 12 months, almost 70% of UC undergraduates obtained monetary assist and over 50% paid no tuition.
Over 75% of California State College undergraduates obtained assist; over 60% paid no tuition.
“Monetary assist is about greater than overlaying tuition. It may possibly assist college students cowl different prices whereas enrolled in class — that features meals, housing, transportation, books and provides,” added Brick. “You may afford faculty. We’ll make it possible for’s a actuality.”
