Institutional Grant Aid at California Colleges: A Primer

Institute for College Access & Success. 405 14th Street 11th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612. Tel: 5110-559-9509; Fax: 510-845-4112; e-mail: admin@ticas.org; Web site: http://www.ticas.org

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14

College Futures Foundation
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation

Student Financial Aid; Paying for College; Higher Education; State Aid; Access to Education; Grants; Federal Aid; Undergraduate Students; Low Income Students; Eligibility; Debt (Financial); Student Loan Programs; Community Colleges; Public Colleges; Private Colleges; Nonprofit Organizations

Millions of college students, across the nation and in California, benefit from financial aid that reduces the amount students and families must pay for tuition and fees, supplies, and living expenses like food, housing, and transportation while enrolled. In California, concerns about college costs and affordability have in recent years expanded into debates about how to reform the state's Cal Grant program. Awarding $2.1 billion in 2018-19, the Cal Grant program is the largest state grant program in the nation and is available to low- and middle-income students who meet certain eligibility criteria. Students, advocates, and policymakers working to increase college affordability in California have traditionally focused the bulk of their efforts on strengthening the Cal Grant program and, just prior to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, major reform was moving forward. Institutional grant aid is a significant source of financial aid that helps reduce California students' financial barriers to college, yet it is relatively less understood than the state Cal Grant program. This report sheds light on the role institutional grants play in supplementing federal and state aid to support affordable and equitable college opportunity in California, highlighting the scale and diversity of these programs in the state's public and private nonprofit colleges. The author uses the most recent available public data, which reflect pre-pandemic funding and enrollment levels, to explore for each type of college: (1) The amount of institutional aid colleges allocate to students with financial need, versus those without need for financial aid; (2) The share of undergraduate students receiving federal Pell Grants, the vast majority of whom have incomes under $40,000, which is a marker of accessibility for low-income students; (3) The net price for low-income students; and (4) Levels of debt that college graduates leave school with.

ERIC

2020

ED607651