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A new California law is giving community college students in the state who intend to transfer to HBCUs a one-time $5,000 grant, per a report by prominent education news website Diverse Education. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Majority Leader Isaac Bryan’s bill that reappropriates funds from the College Access Tax Credit to fund the grant.
Specific verbiage from the bill states, “This bill would instead require the College Access Tax Credit Fund moneys continuously appropriated to the commission to be used for awards for qualifying community college student transfers to regionally accredited Historically Black Colleges and Universities that have associate degree for transfer memoranda of understanding on file with the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. The bill would make an appropriation by changing the purposes for which moneys are used in a continuously appropriated fund.”
The verbiage in the bill also stated that only 53 California community college students transferred to 39 HBCUs, a number that will surely rise with the allocation of the grant.
Although Bryan isn't an HBCU alumnus, his bill that Governor Newsom signed into law bridges the gap for California community college students looking to continue their educational journey. California doesn't currently house a four-year, bachelor's degree conferring HBCUs so the bill provides California students with state assistance that wouldn't otherwise be offered to attend an HBCU.
California Student Aid Commission executive director Marlene Garcia spoke highly of the new law, saying, “AB 1400 creatively redirects funds to provide support to California’s students looking to transfer to an HBCU and bring their talents back to California.”
