SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California lawmakers have announced what they call the most ambitious proposal in the country to reduce student loan debt.
Assembly Democrats on Monday proposed a plan that would create a new scholarship for students in the University of California and California State University systems. According to the Democrats’ plan the scholarship program would cost $1.6 billion and would be phased in over five years.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office reported this year that more than half of California college students graduate with student loan debt. The Democrats say their plan aims to significantly reduce the amount of debt students have to take on to afford college.
Their proposal would also expand aid for community college students and maintain the Middle Class Scholarship program that Gov. Jerry Brown has called for eliminating.
“California is taking the boldest step in the nation toward making college debt-free,” Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Democrat from Paramount, said during a news conference. “We have the opportunity to assure California students that when they go to college, they’ll leave with degrees, not debts.”
The new scholarships would be paid for using money from the state’s general fund. The proposal would also maintain the Middle Class Scholarship program, another general fund expense. Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, called for eliminating the scholarship in his budget proposal.
“We are rejecting… the governor’s cut,” Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting, of San Francisco, said. “We think the last thing we want to do is move those families backward.”
The $1.6 billion scholarship program would be phased in over five years and would help cover non-tuition expenses for about 400,000 students each year when fully implemented. Students would begin receiving the scholarships in 2018, and they would eventually be awarded to all Cal Grant, University Grant and Middle Class Scholarship recipients.
The Democrats’ plan would waive tuition for the first year of community college for full time, in-state students whose families make less than $150,000 a year. It would also expand the state’s financial aid program that helps cover living expenses for low-income community college students. Those expenses would be covered using money from Proposition 98, a measure that guarantees a portion of state revenue for public schools.
“I think it’s well intentioned,” Republican Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, of Oceanside, said of the Democrats’ plan. “But I don’t think it recognizes the economic reality or really addresses the challenges we have to address.”
He pointed to the state’s low four-year graduation rate — it takes many students at UCs and CSUs longer to get their bachelor’s degrees — as a more pressing problem. He said the state should work to ensure students get their degrees on time, which will in turn lower their college expenses.
