State leaders are reminding high school seniors to submit their financial aid applications by Wednesday, April 2. Meeting that deadline gives them the best chance at state aid, including the Cal Grant and Middle Class Scholarship.
“It's a really critical deadline to ensure that students can compete for what we call the priority deadline competitive grants,” said Daisy Gonzales, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission. “Really important for seniors who are going to enter four-year institutions.”
The commission extended the priority deadline by a month this year. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, didn’t fully roll out until December 2024. That’s about two months later than usual.
At the beginning of March, the financial aid application submission rate in California was down by 10% compared to 2023. By March 27, that gap had closed to about 3%.
“We've been rebounding,” Gonzales said. “We had a really important year in the 23-24 educational year, but we have been down since that academic year.”
Without the FAFSA, students can’t access Pell Grants or federal student loans. Still, some students with an undocumented parent or spouse have been hesitant to share their data with the federal government.
This week, state leaders said the Trump administration’s efforts to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education have added to concerns. The Internal Revenue Service is considering allowing immigration officials to use tax data to confirm names and addresses of people suspected of living in the U.S. without legal status, according to reporting by The Washington Post.
Assemblymember Mike Fong, D-Alhambra, chairs the Assembly Higher Education Committee. In a statement Thursday, he called them “direct attacks on the values we share in California.”
“As the financial aid deadline was extended until April 2, I encourage all students and families to continue submitting their financial aid applications,” he said. “In California, we will continue to advocate for our students and higher education.”
This year, the California Student Aid Commission opened the California Dream Act Application to both undocumented students and those from mixed status families. That application is for state and campus-based financial aid only. That data isn’t shared with the federal government.
“I need every student in California to know that higher education is absolutely for them,” Gonzales said. “I know that there is a lot going on, both in the news cycle, in their personal lives. Really thinking about college affordability, the answer is, yes, it's for you. And the number one way to know that is if you qualify for financial aid.”
The San Diego and Imperial Counties chapter of the California Student Opportunity and Access Program will host a webinar on accepting financial aid on April 16.
