Opinion: Don’t Eliminate Cal Grants
July 1st, 2009by Alex Jaksha
In March 2009, I received a letter in the mail congratulating me on my acceptance to UCLA. Unfortunately, that was where the good news stopped. On May 28th, a proposal was introduced in Sacramento to help fix California’s $21.3 billion budget deficit (now over $26 billion); the proposal aims to cut millions from the budget by phasing out Cal Grants, state sponsored grants which basically hand money to students to help pay for college expenses. The program, which began in 2001, can award students up to $9,708 per year, but it could soon be cut, effective as early as the 2009-10 school year. If enacted, Executive Order S-09-08 would permanently phase out the Cal Grant program, affecting the University of California (UC) system, the California State University (CSU) system, the California Community College (CCC) system and private California schools.
With my acceptance, I also discovered that I would receive approximately $1500 from the Cal Grant program, the only college-aid money I would receive. By getting rid of Cal Grants, the government puts the financial burden on my shoulders. I hope to go onto medical school after college, but with the termination of the Cal Grants, I do not know if that will be possible. Even more frightening is the fact that I am not alone. If the Cal Grants program is eliminated, over 7,000 students at UCLA will be affected. Some of these students are very vocal about the proposed cuts, even making a video to share with California voters.
UCLA
Luckily, the UC system is offering an advance payment for the 14,000 freshmen and transfer students who were promised Cal Grants. However, the facts of the case inspire the question: should we be cutting Cal Grants at all? Studies now show that for every $1 invested in a Cal Grant aid package, $3 are returned to the economy. By cutting the education budget, we are not solving the root of the problem; we are only sticking our finger in the bursting dike that is the economy.
Despite the trying economic times and the state budget cuts, the UC system has actually done a considerable amount of work to try to ease the burden of financial strain for both the universities and the students. Since January of this year, 180 UCLA employees have been fired to cut costs. Meanwhile, the upper echelons of the UC administration, including the president of the UC system, are taking 5% pay cuts. Unfortunately, the UC system will still lose about $619 million for the 2009-10 school year if the budget cuts are passed. Some students who begin school in August will only have a month to decide whether or not they can finance a college education. Fortunately, most of the UC’s, including UCLA, are on the quarter system, allowing an extra twenty days or so for students to find money for school. UC administrators also seem to understand the importance of saving Cal Grants; they even emailed students on June 5, advising them to contact their state representative about keeping the Cal Grants program alive.
As this issue affects me directly, I definitely have something of a bias; but it also affects thousands of others going to college in California next year. Therefore, I decided to take the email I received on June 5 and writee an email blast to my state legislators as well as those on the Budget Committee in Sacramento. I hope that other Californians choose to do the same, because putting education first and saving the Cal Grant system are truly important.
Alex Jaksha is a San Diego resident and a student at UCLA. She is involved in a wide range of activities, and she hopes to pursue a profession in the medical field.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
Sources
http://www.jewishjournal.com/education/article/college_uncertainty_marks_class_of_2009_20090603/
http://watchingthewatchers.org/article/16398/take-action-now-save-cal-grants
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Paul Nguyen
