Statement on California Governor Newsom’s 2019-20 Budget Proposal

With widespread agreement that college in California is unaffordable, Governor Gavin Newsom has today proposed a critical ‘down payment’ on expanding and strengthening the state Cal Grant program. His budget proposal would modestly increase the number of Cal Grants available to nontraditional students, hundreds of thousands of whom are currently turned away due to insufficient state funding. It would also provide much-needed additional support to particularly vulnerable student populations, including significantly increased Cal Grant awards for student parents and investments to address student hunger and housing needs. As important as these initial budget proposals are, equally important is the Governor’s commitment to build upon this down payment with additional investments to bring total college costs within reach for low-income students.