Cal grants not cut from budget

By Gina Belmonte

Not long after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed off on the California budget last week, university financial aid administrators around the state let out a long sigh of relief.

The budget, which was delayed for a record 85 days, did not contain any cuts to the Cal Grant fund as Schwarzenegger had proposed in the spring of 2008.

Schwarzenegger's 2008-2009 budget had proposed cutting funds for new Cal Grants for students in the competitive applicant pool, which would have eliminated grants for 22,500 eligible students this fall, according to the Institute for College Access & Success.

Santa Clara students do not have to worry. Because of Santa Clara's late start, the institution is able to credit students' accounts in good faith that the state will credit the funds shortly.

Student accounts were credited for the amount of Cal Grant money they were eligible for, just like in previous years.

Most students remained worry-free, said Richard Toomey, associate vice provost for enrollment management.

Toomey added that the university made the decision to wait until much closer to the beginning of the school term to begin to draw funds from the state. So credits are made to student accounts in advance of the school receiving funds.

"We felt pretty secure in terms of going ahead with our regular aid distribution and thought that once the budget gets cleared up sometime before fall quarter, we'd be OK," said Toomey.

"And as it turned out, that's exactly what happened, so its OK. It would have been different if it would have extended much beyond what it did," he said.

Had the budget been delayed longer, or the proposed Cal Grant cut taken place, the university would have needed to provide the funds without help from the state.

"The question would be can we come up with $ 4 million? No one knows the answer to that. It's a decision the institution would have to make," said Toomey.

If Cal Grants had been cut from the budget, the issue of whether the university could cover the cost would have been raised.

"We've been through this battle before, and the budget has been delayed a number of times before," said Toomey.

"It always gets resolved," he added. "I also know the commitment Santa Clara makes to students, and it is not going to leave them hanging."

Contact Gina Belmonte at (408) 554-4546 or gbelmonte@scu.edu.