70201.
(a) Consistent with the state’s historic commitment to provide educational opportunity by ensuring both student access to, and selection of, an institution of higher education for students with financial need, the long-term policy of the Cal Grant Program established pursuant to this chapter shall be as follows:(1) Commencing with the ____ academic year and every year thereafter, an applicant for a Cal Grant award shall receive an award for payment of tuition or student fees, nontuition costs, or both tuition or student fees and nontuition costs, that is not in excess of the financial need amount determined by the Student Aid Commission under regulations adopted pursuant to Section 70202 if the applicant complies with both of the following requirements:
(A) Demonstrates financial need.
(B) Complies with each of the applicable eligibility criteria.
(2) (A) For the public segments of postsecondary education, the maximum Cal Grant award for all institutions shall be no more than the total of mandatory systemwide fees and other costs of attendance for the institution, and for a private nonprofit institution, no more than a specified sum or a percentage of total costs of attendance, not to exceed that total cost of attendance, as determined and annually adjusted as specified by the commission.
(B) As further specified in Section 70205, eligibility for all Cal Grants shall be need based, shall not exceed the calculated financial need of any individual applicant, and shall be determined by the commission based on consideration of all of the following sets of relevant factors:
(i) Circumstances of the household of the student, including determinations regarding the student’s financial independence, and the household’s size, configuration, income and asset levels, and any other circumstances the commission may deem appropriate. The commission shall consider the program income and asset ceilings for Cal Grants A, B, C, and T under the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, as determined pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (k) of Section 69432.7, as it read on January 1, 2022, as presumptively appropriate for the initial regulations adopted regarding determinations of Cal Grant eligibility under this chapter.
(ii) The costs of attendance, which may differ for each segment, for the nature of the coursework, and for location, and which may reflect or be adjusted for other factors that the commission may deem appropriate for consideration. In particular, this amount may be adjusted for other sources of tuition assistance or cost subsidy, including waivers of fees granted by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and other bases considered under the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program established under Chapter 1.7 (commencing with Section 69430), as it read on January 1, 2022.
(iii) Any other factor the commission shall deem relevant to determining an equitable award, including, but not necessarily limited to, a mechanism for fairly calculating an expected student contribution toward the costs of attendance.
(3) (A) Notwithstanding subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2), the commission’s regulations adopted pursuant to Section 70202 shall not reduce the amount of grants for which students who have received grants under Chapter 1.7 (commencing with Section 69430) or Article 22 (commencing with Section 70020) of Chapter 2 would have been eligible under those grant programs as they read on January 1, 2022, or as they read on the day before any later date that the commission determines to terminate the operation of those grant programs and provide grants instead pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 70215) and Article 4 (commencing with Section 70220).
(B) An eligible student who satisfies the program income and asset ceilings for the Cal Grant A, B, C, and T Programs that existed under the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, as determined pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (k) of Section 69432.7, as it read on January 1, 2022, shall receive an award for all tuition and student fees for a public postsecondary educational institution.
(C) In addition to the award described in subparagraph (B), an eligible student, including a student who would have been eligible for an award under the Middle Class Scholarship Program, as specified in Section 70022 as it read on January 1, 2022, may receive a supplemental award, pursuant to a formula determined by the commission based on consideration of factors described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2).
(b) An institution of higher education in this state that participates in the Cal Grant Program shall not reduce its level of need-based institutional financial aid to undergraduate students, excluding loans, below the total level awarded in the academic year before July 1, 2022, or any later date the commission may determine to commence operation of its regulations pursuant to Section 70202. This subdivision shall not apply to institutions of higher education in any academic year in which state funding for this chapter is less than the previous academic year.
(c) The implementation of the policy set forth in this section shall maintain a balance between the state’s policy goals of ensuring student access to, and selection of, an institution of higher education for students with financial need.
(d) It is the policy of the State of California that the Cal Grant Program supplement the federal Pell Grant program.
(e) An award under the Cal Grant Program shall not guarantee admission to an institution of higher education or admission to a specific campus or program.