Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an $85 billion state budget plan July 29, tacking on an additional $500 million in cuts that includes a hit to the student aid program Cal Grants.
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- Students unite against fee hikes, layoffs
- Student fees to rise by $978
- ‘We have a long fight ahead of us’
- CSU considers additional fee increases
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- Board approves $306 fee increase
Schwarzenegger’s line-item vetoes include $6.3 million from the California Student Aid Commission, of which $4.3 million will be restored under the authorization of decentralization of the Cal Grant program and possibly other financial aid programs, according to the Department of Finance’s state budget Web site.
“Decentralization of financial aid programs makes colleges and universities the single point of contact for most students’ financial aid needs, thereby better serving students,” according to the budget summary on the state budget Web site.
Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander said that the budget plan is hurting rather than helping students.
“This budget is a disaster for public education and the future economy of California,” Alexander said via e-mail. “To consider that a state’s children and students are waste, fraud and abuse is beyond anything that I have ever heard.”
According to a CSU press release, students will have their university financial aid packages adjusted because of the $672 fee increase approved by the board of trustees July 21.
A fee increase of $79 million will be directed to financial aid. The CSU system said July 29 that Cal Grant recipients’ adjustments will consider only the $306 fee increase approved in May, but said July 31 that the California Student Aid Commission, which runs the program, will adjust awards to match both the May and July fee increases — totaling $978 — for Cal Grant A and B recipients.
The 108,900 students who receive CSU state university grants will also have their fee increases covered, while those with Pell Grants will have $619 of the increase covered.
The July 29 press release also said that more than 187,000 students would not feel the fee increase financially due to state and federal grants, fee waivers and federal tax credits.
This article was updated at 2:55 p.m. on July 31, 2009, to reflect the changes of financial coverage of fee increases for grant recipients.