Request for Signature - AB 1887 (Cervantes)

Dear Governor Newsom: 

On behalf of the Michelson Center for Public Policy (MCPP), we wish to express our strong support for Assembly Bill 1887, and request that you sign the bill into law. This important bill will extend the application deadline for state financial aid programs to May 2 and allow California students to have additional time to complete the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). 

MCPP is a nonprofit advocacy organization that propels legislative change through meaningful collaboration with elected officials, government agencies, and civic leaders. Our aim is to achieve positive outcomes in education and college affordability, equity, medical research, and animal welfare across the state of California. 

At the end of 2020, through congressional passage and enactment of the FAFSA Simplification Act, the U.S. Department of Education was ordered to revamp the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly known as FAFSA. The goal of this sweeping reform of FAFSA was to make the application more accessible for working families. Included as part of the goal was to reduce the number of questions asked of student applicants from more than 100 questions to less than 40.  

However, implementation of these FAFSA reforms has not been easy. Delays in necessary technological upgrades and reduced staffing levels led to the revamped application being activated two months behind schedule in 2023. This led to delays in the typical timeline for colleges and universities to make admissions decisions, provide financial aid awards, and complete their enrollment process. 

Among the issues with the revamped FAFSA rollout is that students with parents who do not have a Social Security number have found themselves left with an error message and unable to complete the online application. This means that California students with parents who are undocumented are unable to apply for state or federal financial aid through the FAFSA, even if they themselves are citizens of the United States. 

Assembly Bill 1887 will extend the application deadline for state financial aid programs from April 2 to May 2. These programs include both Cal Grant aid and the Middle Class Scholarship. This will help ensure that more California students are able to complete the FAFSA and access the financial resources they need to begin their college educations in earnest. This extension would also further align state financial aid programs with the decisions made by many institutions of higher learning to extend their enrollment deadlines beyond the traditional May 1 cutoff. 

We thank Assembly Member Cervantes for working to help California’s students fulfill their dreams of achieving higher education by extending the application deadline for state financial aid programs to May 2 in response to the ongoing issues with FAFSA reform implementation. For these reasons, we respectfully request your signature of Assembly Bill 1887.  

Sincerely, 

Geoffrey L. Baum 

Executive Director 

Michelson Center for Public Policy