Commission vote protects aid for California students

Commission vote protects aid for California students

Despite massive state budget deficit, California's Student Aid Commission has voted unanimously to preserve the administration of Cal Grants that benefit California college students.

The move, which relied on reducing the EdFund expenses without reducing revenue, is expected to result in savings of $10 million that can be allocated to prevent disruption of services that have been key to assisting minority and low-income students in paying for college.

"California's economic recovery depends on a highly trained workforce," says Lorena Hernandez, vice chair of the commission.

She adds, "Maintaining the opportunity of choice and access for kids who thought higher education was an impossible dream is economically smart."

The Cal Grant Program provides guidance and counseling to low-income and minority students to help them successfully pursue college education. Many of them are also first-generation college students.

Estimates from the Census Bureau for 2007 show that average earnings of individuals with a college degree are nearly twice as high as those of workers without higher education.