The California State University system recently implemented measures to prepare for state budget cuts, including deferment of university fees for Cal Grant recipients.
The state suspended the grants to help offset its budget deficit, which is said to be approaching $42 billion. Cal State Long Beach students receiving Cal Grants for the spring semester will have their student fees covered by the university in response to the state’s Feb. 1 suspension of $13 million in grants.
“We believe the state will reimburse us,” said Mary Stephens, Cal State Long Beach vice president for administration and finance. “We’re just trying to protect the students as much as possible — from really the state’s doing, not ours.”
Cal Grants are the main source of financial aid in California. While Cal Grant A covers partial enrollment fees, Cal Grant B is primarily used for living expenses, textbooks and other educational expenses but can also be used to pay for enrollment fees.
According to Stephens, nearly 5,000 CSULB students have been awarded a total of $6,320,900 in Cal Grants. Stephens described financing the students’ fees as a loss of revenue rather than a cut from a different area of the university.
In addition to covering those payments, CSULB has offered loans to Cal Grant B recipients who can pay for their university fees but need the extra funds from the grant to pay for living expenses, textbooks and other needs, Stephens said. The state owes the university $2,641,000 for those stipends, which cover 3,395 CSULB students.
However, the “CSU is not in a position to automatically cover these cash stipends to students” until the California Student Aid Commission, which provides the grants, distributes the stipends, according to the CSU website. Approximately 65,500 students in the CSU system receive Cal Grants.
“That would literally be cash out of our pockets to the students,” Stephens said.
Christina Oliva, a senior history major, said that had the university not covered her fees, “it would’ve caused financial burden for sure.” She said she would have had to charge her fees to her credit card, leaving her to pay interest to her credit card company.
Anabel Palma, a sophomore pre-nursing student, said that without the grant, she would not be a full-time student.
“I wouldn’t be able to afford it, period,” Palma said.
It has not been determined when the university will be reimbursed.
The suspension of Cal Grants is part of a larger decision made by California controller John Chiang after little action had been taken on the part of the governor and lawmakers. Tax refunds and welfare checks are being stopped as well.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also proposed earlier this month to reduce the $880-million Cal Grant budget by 10 percent and not allow adjustments to grant awards to cover the upcoming University of California and CSU 10-percent university fee increases, according to an article from the Los Angeles Times.
According to an article from the Bakersfield Californian, the proposal would save the state $52.9 million in exchange for the loss of 22,500 Cal Grant competitive awards, which are for students who aren’t eligible for Cal Grant entitlement awards.
“I wouldn’t be able to go to school,” Oliva said in reaction to the governor’s proposal.
CSU Chancellor Charles Reed has also asked universities to implement a hiring freeze, as well as limit employee travel and purchases to critical equipment and supplies.
According to Stephens, orders that don’t affect classrooms will be postponed.
The hiring freeze, which has been in effect since Jan. 9, applies to all campus-funded positions, including those in the areas of housing, parking and University College and Extension Services.
“We have to get the message out to the public that spending on education is an investment. It’s not like any other expenditures that, in many cases, don’t wield benefits in the future,” Grobar said. “It’s doubly harmful when we make cuts to the university because of future ramifications of those cuts.”
Instead of using that money to dole out money to those ‘entitlement’ students, why not use it to improve athletics? It’s win-win. We can block those who can’t pay for their education and we won’t be stuck with more fees.