[ad_1]
In an increasingly tumultuous year, California’s legislature and Governor have vowed to protect students and Californians from the harms posed by federal proposals. Early federal actions have hollowed out the Department of Education, moved to transfer the student loan portfolio to an agency without capacity or knowledge of the educational loan system, targeted institutions and threatened to withhold federal funding. The recently passed reconciliation bill will have a lasting impact on students nationwide. In California, where the legislative process has now moved into the second house, we’d like to shine a light on four key bills that would have helped address college access, affordability, transparency, and student protections yet did not pass out of their house of origin. We hope to work with bill cosponsors and other key decision makers to advance these critical pieces of legislation further in 2026.
Securing College Access and Affordability to Protect California Students from Coming Federal Challenges
Higher education is one of the most powerful engines of economic mobility, driving innovation and building the workforce of the future. Despite this, federal policymakers have just cut investments in higher education access, success, and affordability. And while the final California budget agreement protects student financial aid and state funding for public institutions, two key bills failed to advance that would have increased college access and reduced costs for students. Both AB 791 (Berman) and SB 305 (Reyes) would have addressed cost-of-attendance (COA) calculation accuracy and increase Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the California Dream Act Application (CADAA) applications at the California Community College (CCC) system.
AB 791, co-sponsored by John Burton Advocates for Youth, the California State Student Association, the UC Student Association and TICAS, would have empowered students to address their basic needs by ensuring that their higher education institution accurately reflected their college costs. The bill would have created a more transparent and holistic appeals process for students to request adjustments to their COA to more accurately reflect regional discrepancies, dependent care costs, and other extenuating factors that are not necessarily reflected in an average-based model.
SB 305 (Reyes), co-sponsored by the California Student Aid Commission, Ed Trust-West, and the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, would have built upon the success of the AB 469 FAFSA/CADAA completion mandate, which has increased FAFSA and CADAA completion rates for high school seniors, to expand this mandate to CCC students. This is a critical solution that could ensure more students receive the financial aid they qualify for and reduce the cost of college for California’s public segment with the highest net costs. Currently, many community college students are not aware they can or not encouraged to complete a FAFSA or CADAA, especially if they are on a transfer pathway.
Research has shown that there are several barriers that impact students applying for and receiving aid, including ineffective communication from their college’s financial aid office, lack of awareness regarding their aid eligibility and available supports, the complexity of the application process, and more. In 2020, more than half of community college students that completed a FAFSA had an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $40,000 or less. Despite this high need of support, CCC students are still behind on FAFSA/CADAA completion rates and leaving millions of dollars of aid on the table. Taking up awards like the Cal Grant B Access Award or the federal Pell Grant are important for student success, and expanding the financial aid application completion mandate would only benefit students who otherwise may not be aware of all the financial aid supports available to them. In recent years, California has left hundreds of millions of federal aid dollars on the table. Increasing access to federal and state financial aid will only support students through financial difficulties and increase their likelihood of completing their educational journeys.
Increasing Protections and Transparency as Federal Deregulation Ramps Up
As federal policymakers are weakening borrower protections, and leaving students more vulnerable to predatory and low-quality institutions, it is critical that states step into the breach to protect their citizens and increase transparency. AB 850 (Pacheco) and SB 575 (Laird) are two bills that would have helped California achieve that aim by providing key insight into the impacts of harmful debt collection practices and shed light on the efficacy of higher education programs.
AB 850 would have addressed the impacts of institutional debt, a lesser known, but sizeable form of student debt that primarily impacts the most low-income students. This bill, co-sponsored by NextGen Policy, Young Invincibles, Student Debt Crisis Center, and Student Borrower Protection Center, takes steps to eliminate harmful debt collection practices that prevent students from completing their degrees and removes the most punitive practices like state tax credit garnishment. Implementing student-centered approaches toward resolving debts owed by students to their institutions should be a core value for institutions.
SB 575 seeks to increase data transparency on earnings by instituting a data-sharing agreement between the Franchise Tax Board (FBT) and the Office of Cradle to Career Data System (C2C) and would fill critical gaps in understanding how postsecondary education and training (from apprenticeships to degrees) translate into real-world employment and earnings for different populations of students. California’s C2C Data System provides students, educators, researchers, advocates, and lawmakers with critical information on student pathways from cradle to career without compromising privacy. Yet we’re still flying blind on key outcomes. Without adequate data linkages and fields, our data system won’t accurately support students’ decision-making and uplift all student outcomes and experiences between higher education and the workforce. As students grapple with ever-increasing costs of college, having the tools that allow them to make informed decisions about the efficacy of higher education programs in achieving their career goals is key to student success.
Transparency and student protections go hand in hand with a strong higher education system. In 2026, we strongly urge the legislature to prioritize these two bills that would empower the Office of C2C to leverage its strong data privacy protections to allow students and families fuller access to understanding the connection between higher education pathways and the workforce, and to ensure that institutional debt doesn’t sink students educationally and financially.
Capitalizing on California’s Leadership in Higher Education
California has long been a national leader in access to higher education, innovative approaches to solving affordability issues, and, with the creation of the C2C, transparency. Rapid changes at the federal level have placed students on a pathway to increased student debt, less support services, and increased opportunities for bad-actor institutions to take advantage of federal dollars for students. We urge lawmakers to continue to sustain California as an alternative model that keeps its foot on the gas of ensuring a truly accessible, affordable, quality public higher education for all students who want one. AB791, AB850, SB305, SB575 are four bills to start with in 2026.
[ad_2]
