News & Commentary
Emergency support for college students is a matter of financial equity, and it’s everyone’s business
Emergency fund assistance for students in our state budget, paired with recently approved federal relief, recognizes an important lesson from the pandemic: Flexible cash assistance works.
California offers relatively generous financial aid programs, but their application is limited, and too many of our students face serious financial strains outside of tuition that threaten to derail them. If deployed thoughtfully and equitably, flexible assistance can help students struggling financially to stay in school and earn degrees. It can change their odds and put California on a path to building a truly inclusive economy.