Students
finally receive Cal Grants
By Sonya Smith
On-line Forty-Niner
Students
began classes on Sept. 3 despite fears in
August that they would have to wait for
their scholarships until the delayed approval
of the California budget.
The scholarships were in jeopardy of not
being given to the students until after
the fall semester began due to a budget
impasse that stated advance payments cannot
be made until the California budget is approved.
A letter from Assemblywoman Elaine Alquist,
D-Santa Clara, to Gov. Gray Davis helped
to move these funds along to students, in
which she wrote, “200,000 students have
been awarded Cal Grants for this fall academic
year. They are dependent on this financial
aid for tuition, books and other educational
expenses. Their ability to attend college
should not be held hostage by the State’s
inability to pass budget.”
Alquist added in her letter to Davis that,
“Clearly, with your commitment to this program
and the legislature’s strong support for
our students, we can do something to ensure
that Cal Grant awards are made in a timely
manner.”
Dean Kulju, director of Financial Aid at
Cal State Long Beach, explained how in early
August California State University Chancellor
Charles Reed helped to get the scholarships
to all the CSU system students.
Associated Students Inc. President Danny
Vivian further explained how Reed sent a
memo on Aug. 14 to the CSU presidents that
turned the funds over for the scholarships
without knowing if the funds would be released
by the budget at all.
“This would have cost him his job,” Vivian
said. “We’re fortunate to have a chancellor
that would risk this for the students.”
According to the memo sent from Reed to
the CSU presidents, “Over 115,000 students
are expected to receive approximately $200
million in assistance for 2002-2003 from
Cal Grants, State University Grants and
Educational Opportunity Program Grants.”
Reed further stated that, “Approximately
$90 million of these funds are due to be
disbursed to students during the fall term.”
The grants have been fully dispersed.
“Forty-four percent of CSULB students receive
financial aid,” Vivian said. However this
does not disseminate between state aid,
federal aid and other types of aid.
“It was unfortunate that it affected students,
vendors and many people because the legislature
could not come to terms with the issues
that were affecting the budget,” said Anita
Gore, the spokesperson for the Department
of Finance for California.
“The senate acted in a timely way, but the
assembly did not stop fighting over revenue
enhancements and budget cuts,” Gore said.
Gore attributed the main budget dispute
to be over the $23.6 billion “spending gap.”
After the legislature passed the budget,
Davis signed the budget on Sept. 5 vetoing
$214 million from the budget.
According to the California Department of
Finance Web site, Davis had just recently
expanded the Cal Grant program in August
2000 “to guarantee that college students
who meet specified academic and financial
need criteria are entitled to receive financial
assistance to attend college.”
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