LA Times: California could be the first state to cut student aid while hiking fees

[marmar]

California could be the first state to cut student aid while hiking fees

By Gale Holland
May 29, 2009


Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to dismantle the Cal Grant program would make California the first state in the recession-battered nation to eliminate student financial aid while raising college tuition, experts said this week.

"Other states are cutting back, but not a complete phase-out," said Haley Chitty, communications director for the National Assn. of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

The governor's proposal would end all new Cal Grants, eventually eliminating the state's main financial aid program for college students, and prevent existing awards from increasing. Grants awarded to 118,000 freshmen starting college in the fall would be canceled, as well as hikes in 82,255 continuing awards promised when the University of California and California State University raised fees this month by 10% and 9.3%, respectively.

At the University of California, among other options, students with university grants could see some of their money shifted to those who have lost Cal Grants, officials said. California State University and schools in the California Community Colleges System have yet to decide how to respond to the potentially devastating aid cuts, they said. The proposal would save an estimated $173 million in 2009-10 and $450 million in 2010-11, state officials said. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-calgrants29-2009may29,0,694495.story