In an effort to combat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to eliminate Cal Grants, California state lawmakers introduced a proposal last week that would retain funding for the program while increasing taxes.
But the governor said that he would not support a proposal that included tax increases.
Without the aid of the Cal Grants program, students may be unable to afford student fees while facing the worst job market in the nation, said Yvonne Stewart-Buchen, spokeswoman for the California Student Aid Commission.
The elimination of Cal Grants was just one of the many proposals on the table in Sacramento to move the state out of its budget crisis, said Daniel J. B. Mitchell, professor emeritus at the UCLA School of Public Affairs.
Mitchell added that the governor, who tried to eliminate the program in May, cannot line-item veto Cal Grants from the current 2009-2010 budget since it was already passed in February. But Mitchell said that Schwarzenegger retains the option of eliminating the program from the budget for the coming year, which would take effect on July 1, 2010.
Cal Grants are state-sponsored aid packages that offer financial support to some 7,000 students at UCLA. More than 46,000 University of California undergraduates receive these grants, according to a university statement. They total $293 million, with UCLA students receiving $46 million of this sum.
The university already faces up to a 20 percent reduction in state support and additional cuts to the Cal Grants program would only further hurt students, according to UC President Mark Yudof in an online statement.
“The university is weighing its options under a variety of budget scenarios,” Yudof said. “The choices are stark, and everything is on the table.”
But Mitchell said that since the state may not even have enough funds to avoid bankruptcy, it would be unable to make Cal Grant payments anyway. For now, it is up to the legislature to craft the new budget, not the governor, he added.
The California Student Aid Commission has received more calls from concerned students and parents after the governor’s proposal to eliminate the Cal Grants program in May than ever before, Stewart-Buchen said. She recommended that students continue with their scheduled course load, while looking at alternative forms of financial aid.
UCLA students have already taken action to stop the proposed elimination of Cal Grants.
One such group is the Save Cal Grants Coalition, which has about 15-20 active members, said Susan Li, the Undergraduate Students Association Council external vice president and a member of the coalition.
The group was founded a few days after the governor proposed to end Cal Grants, Li said.
For Li, the movement to retain Cal Grant funding hits close to home. Her family makes $13,000 a year and both she and her brother are struggling to pay for college.
“I understand that we are in a budget crisis, but what I don’t understand is why they keep cutting financial aid,” Li said. “Investment in education is an investment to our state’s economy.”
Since then, students have called legislators, made a YouTube video, placed fliers in various classrooms and collaborated with students at other UCs to support the cause. However, after Cal Grants were put back on the budget, the group had to restrategize with the knowledge that the fate of the program lies in the governor’s hands.
“So far, we’ve succeeded in getting the Democratic legislators to promise not to cut the Cal Grants program,” said Dieu Huynh, a second-year political science student, regarding the group’s phone-banking campaigns. “We must ensure that if (the governor does line-item veto Cal Grants), there may be enough legislators to override it.”