California college students will soon have an easier time finding out how to ask for more financial aid, thanks to a new state law aimed at making the appeals process less confusing and more transparent.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the measure in September, requiring colleges and universities across the state to clearly spell out how students can request additional financial aid if they believe their awarded amount doesn’t cover their actual expenses. Schools will also have to publish details on how they calculate the cost of attendance, the figure used to determine how much aid a student receives.
Assembly Bill 2251, authored by Democratic Assemblymembers Celeste Rodriguez of the San Fernando Valley and Marc Berman of Menlo Park, gives colleges until fall 2027 to put the new requirements in place.
Current law already requires campuses to post cost estimates covering tuition, fees, housing, transportation, food and other likely expenses. But student advocates say the new rules will make it far easier for students to find a path forward when their real-world costs exceed those estimates.
“California has a strong track record of finding new ways to make higher education more affordable, and AB 2251 is another example of that,” said Laura Szabo-Kubitz, senior policy adviser at the Institute for College Access and Success, a group that pushes for more affordable higher education options. “It’s a step toward closing the affordability gap.”
Seeking help when aid falls short
Junely Merwin, now a consultant with the Foster Youth Pre-College Collective, received a full-ride scholarship to attend Cal State Fullerton in 2015. But as a former foster youth and young mother, she still needed extra help to cover child care costs.
“My money went straight into child care, and it was expensive,” Merwin said. “Even with the full scholarship, it wasn’t enough.”
When she looked into her school’s process for requesting a cost-of-attendance adjustment, she found the website confusing, and calls to the financial aid office bounced her between staff members. She eventually completed the appeal, and her cost of attendance was adjusted to include child care expenses, opening the door to more financial aid.
Merwin’s experience isn’t unusual. More than half of California’s public universities underestimate what students actually pay to attend, according to 2024 research by John Burton Advocates for Youth, the organization that sponsored the new law. Some schools’ estimates fall short by more than $10,000.
That matters because students can’t receive more financial aid — including loans, grants and some scholarships — than the cost of attendance their school calculates. When real expenses exceed that number, students often end up working extra hours or taking fewer classes to make ends meet, according to research from the Institute for College Access and Success.
Students can ask for their cost of attendance to be adjusted when their expenses run higher than the university’s estimate, but many don’t know that option exists.
A March report from John Burton Advocates for Youth found that nearly half of California colleges fail to adequately inform students about the resources and options available to them when requesting a financial aid adjustment.
Jessica Petrass, the organization’s director of education, said these adjustments can be especially valuable for low-income students and former foster youth, who often already receive the maximum aid available but still need more support. Because the process is so unclear, many students end up leaving money on the table that they would otherwise qualify for.
Another John Burton report found that staff who run foster-youth support programs across California’s three public college systems don’t find the cost-adjustment process accessible. Most of those surveyed said campus websites provide information that is insufficient or difficult to understand.
“That’s why I see AB 2251 as both a transparency issue and an access issue for students — because it’s not enough to simply have a policy on the books,” Merwin said. “The information needs to be communicated clearly and consistently so students can actually understand and use it.”
Clearer explanations ahead
Colleges currently vary widely in how — and where — they explain the process for requesting a cost-of-attendance adjustment or exceeding the standard financial aid limit. Some schools lay out the information plainly on their websites, while others bury it in a maze of links and PDFs.
Under the new law, campuses will be required to post clear information about how a student can file for an adjustment, how long the process typically takes, and who to contact for help. That information must appear on the same page as general cost-of-attendance details.
Jackie Cordero, a first-generation college student at UC Santa Cruz, is currently going through the adjustment process herself. She chose UC Santa Cruz because of its generous financial aid package, but after her father was injured and could no longer work, she had to find a way to cover costs her aid package didn’t account for.
After doing her own research and reaching out directly to the financial aid office, she learned that requesting additional aid was possible. But the process hasn’t been simple. Cordero said the university asked for documents — including paperwork related to her father’s job loss and her mother’s income — that didn’t exist in the form the school wanted. Unable to produce those records, she’s instead had to write letters explaining her family’s financial situation.
“There probably should be a little more help for people who want to make a cost-of-attendance adjustment,” she said. “I’m still a little confused about the process, and reaching out to the financial aid office can be kind of difficult.”
Under federal law, students aren’t required to submit documentation to request a cost-of-attendance adjustment, but in practice, colleges almost always ask for it before approving additional aid.
Inconsistent methods for calculating costs
Across California’s three public higher education systems, researchers with John Burton Advocates for Youth found that 83% of campuses don’t break down the total cost for each spending category — such as housing or transportation — on their websites. That kind of detail helps students figure out whether their actual expenses exceed the school’s estimate and whether they might qualify for an adjustment.
“At the end of the day, these budgets are an estimate,” Petrass said. “It’s about making the best estimate possible to reach an average that reflects the unique circumstances each student is facing.”
Most campuses also don’t disclose the data sources behind their estimates. According to the advocacy group, only 17% of University of California campuses, 26% of Cal State campuses, and 22% of community colleges explain how they arrive at their cost figures.
Each system uses a different method. UC campuses rely on a survey conducted by the UC Office of the President. Cal State campuses and community colleges use a mix of data sources, including figures from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and survey estimates from the California Student Aid Commission.
What the new law won’t change
While the law sets a new standard for transparency around financial aid, it doesn’t come with new funding for aid itself, nor does it guarantee that any student’s request for a cost-of-attendance adjustment will be approved.
The California Student Aid Commission estimates the state could spend an additional $805,000 to $2.3 million on Cal Grant awards as a result of adjustment requests that might not otherwise have been filed — a projected 3% to 5% increase in approved adjustments each year, according to the commission.
Even when a student’s request is approved, many college financial aid websites note that the additional support typically comes in the form of loans rather than grants or scholarships. The law also won’t change the often-cumbersome adjustment process itself, or how colleges calculate the cost of attendance in the first place.
“I think there are still areas where California could continue refining its policies to strengthen this process,” Petrass said. “I also think there are opportunities to reduce the documentation burden on students, to create a more streamlined process that aligns with minimum federal requirements.”
Original source: CalMatters
