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Committee advances bill to protect students when financial aid is delayed
Summary
AB 2422 would require colleges to provide temporary protections (soft holds) for students whose financial aid is delayed through no fault of their own, preventing drops from courses and automatic penalties while institutions work with external aid sources. Student witnesses described months-long delays and hardship.
Assemblymember Asomer Kolozah described AB 2422 as a measure to shield students from administrative and external delays in financial-aid disbursements that can force them out of classes.
"For thousands of students every year, financial aid is the difference between staying enrolled and dropping out," Kolozah said, and student testimony underscored the point. Alex McCray, speaking for a UCLA student, said a middle-class scholarship was delayed three to four months, forcing the student to take on extra loans and negotiate payment plans. "Students should not have to live with this level of uncertainty just to access their education," McCray said.
Sponsors including the student associations urged the committee to pass the bill as amended; members thanked students for their testimony and moved the bill out of committee and on to Appropriations for fiscal review. The committee recorded ayes sufficient to advance the measure and kept the roll open for additional members.
