Students who experienced homelessness in high school would get additional financial assistance to attend three California State University campuses under a pilot program proposed in the California Legislature this week.
Senate Bill 685 would cover the remaining cost of attendance after financial aid at San Jose State and two other Cal State campuses, including tuition and fees, books and supplies and other living and transportation expenses. Federal student loans would be excluded in calculating a student’s balance in excess of financial aid.
Sen. Dave Cortese, a Democrat representing District 15 in San Jose, introduced the bill on Monday. Aid would be available for the first four years the student participates in the pilot and would be open to California residents between 17 and 26 years old. The pilot would start in the 2026-27 school year, becoming inoperative on July 1, 2031.
Statewide, almost 90,000 high school students were identified as homeless students in the 2023-24 school year, according to data from the California Department of Education, including more than 24,000 high school seniors.
To receive aid under SB 685, students would have to be identified by someone at their high school as meeting the definition of homelessness under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. That definition includes not just students who live in the kinds of situations people may more commonly consider homelessness — such as shelters, vehicles, or abandoned buildings — but also students forced to move in with friends or relatives because of economic hardship or a loss of housing. Previous reporting suggests that many students who meet those criteria aren’t identified by their school districts and don’t receive the protections the law provides.
Students also would have to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or the California Dream Act application, and apply for other grants or fee waivers for which they are eligible. The bill specifies that they must be enrolled in college full time, take courses toward their first baccalaureate degree and keep up satisfactory academic progress.
The CSU chancellor’s office would select two more campuses in addition to San Jose State to participate in the pilot under SB 685. All three would identify a liaison to assist students who may qualify for the program. Similarly, the California Student Aid Commission would hire at least one full-time equivalent employee to help students experiencing homelessness to apply for and enroll in college.
This story was written by Amy DiPierro and originally appeared in EdSource.
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