CA adds college financial aid options

From CalMatters community college reporter Adam Echelman:

If colleges worked the way they should, Joe Villa would have thousands of dollars of federal financial aid by now. But he’s never received a penny. 

I’ve been talking to Villa for over a year now, trying to figure out why. 

He’s one of roughly four million Californians who lack a high school diploma or equivalent. After the governor commuted his prison sentence in 2020, Villa started working towards his GED while also taking college-level courses at Saddleback College in Orange County. At 68, his hope is to get a college degree as quickly as possible. 

“I’m starting over,” he told me. 

In 2016, the federal government created a program to help students like Villa access financial aid, but last spring, I discovered that California’s community colleges largely failed to enact it. Other states, like Mississippi and Alabama, found creative ways to make it easier for colleges to implement the program and for adults without high school diplomas to get aid. A group of education advocates presented California leaders with a similar fix, but the state declined to act. 

After my story came out, the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office decided they wanted to change the program after all — though they nearly missed a key deadline to do it.

Last week, Newsom’s office announced that the changes would finally take effect: 

Newsom, in a statement: “It’s a duty and a privilege for our state to help students and workers access higher education and pursue fulfilling careers — even without a high school diploma. In California, we’re working to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to succeed and reach their full potential.”

To be clear, colleges have been able to offer financial aid to students like Villa since at least 2016, though that process was more cumbersome. The president of Saddleback College, Elliot Stern, said that the school was preparing to offer financial aid under the previous rules, but now that the state has created a new and more accessible way of awarding financial aid, it wants Saddleback College to wait. 

Paul Feist, a spokesperson for the chancellor’s office, said the improved financial aid system should be in place by next fall, which means Villa will have to wait at least another year to access any federal grants.

Villa: “Why is the state taking so long? A few thousand dollars would help immensely.”

Today’s the deadline for county election offices to start sending mail ballots to California’s 22.3 million registered voters. To be counted, ballots have to be postmarked by Nov. 5 and received by election offices by Nov. 12.

Also, early voting sites open in some counties. If you want to vote early — or just want to start learning about everything on your ballot — it’s a good time to look at our comprehensive Voter Guide. We’ve added a new local lookup tool to find out what’s on your ballot. And for the first time, it will be translated into Chinese and Korean, as well as English and Spanish.

While the focus is on the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, California is a deep blue state. So there’s more suspense about key races for the U.S. House, the state Assembly and state Senate — and especially the 10 ballot propositions. 

Speaking of which, here are the recommendations from the state Republican Party and the California Democratic Party.

Next, a new poll reinforces that Proposition 36, which would increase penalties for theft and drug crimes, appears likely to pass. The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies survey, released Friday and conducted for the Los Angeles Times, found 60% of likely voters in favor and 21% opposed. By registration, 83% of Republicans, 58% of no party preference and 47% of Democrats support the measure. Democratic leaders are divided on the prop, with Gov. Newsom opposed, while several big-city mayors are in support.

Other poll findings:

Support for Prop. 32, which would raise the statewide minimum wage to $18 an hour, has slipped to 46% from 52% in early August.

Backing for Prop. 33, which would allow cities to impose rent control, dipped to 37% from 40%.

Let’s get to some Capitol news: 

Forced sterilization: In 1998, Geynna Buffington underwent an “endometrial ablation” at a Chowchilla state prison, where she was incarcerated. She didn’t know it at the time, but the procedure left Buffington unable to have children.

As CalMatters justice reporter Cayla Mihalovich explains, forced sterilization persisted in state-run homes and hospitals until at least 2013, despite California’s repealing its eugenics laws in 1979.

Buffington: “That is so humanly low for someone to make the decision that I don’t deserve to have children because I’m incarcerated.”

After four denials for reparations payment, Buffington finally received payment from the state this month. Victim advocates say they hope Buffington’s case will open the doors for others, but the chances are slim: Since 2021 when the state passed the reparations law, more than 75% of applicants were denied.

Read more about forced sterilizations in Cayla’s story.

Homeless carrots and sticks: CalMatters’ Marisa Kendall reports that Gov. Newsom on Friday awarded another $131 million to help 18 California cities and counties clear encampments and move people indoors.

He made the announcement during a virtual press conference in which he touted his administration’s efforts to clear encampments (nearly 1,000 removed since July 1) and threatened to claw back funds from cities that don’t follow state housing laws.

Newsom: “We’re no longer interested in funding failure. We want to fund success. We want to fund resolve. We want to fund commitment.”

The $131 million is part of the state’s $1 billion Encampment Resolution Fund launched in 2021. Newsom on Friday also said the state will start reimbursing cities that clear homeless encampments from state land. That way, city leaders can remove camps from under highway overpasses, for example, instead of waiting for Caltrans to get around to it. A June U.S. Supreme Court ruling gave cities more power to enforce anti-camping ordinances.

After the spring pro-Palestinian protests at UCLA, the University of California faced scrutiny over the system’s rules on encampments and protest. As part of our partnership with PBS SoCal, CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn, Mia Henry, Sergio Olmos and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on the debate surrounding free speech and public safety on UC campuses. Watch it here. 

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.