California’s lowest-income college students typically qualify for the maximum amount of need-based financial aid, but they may find it challenging to cover their remaining costs. At a virtual event last week, PPIC researcher Patricia Malagon outlined a new report on the impact of financial aid, food assistance, and public health insurance on college affordability in each of the state’s public higher education systems. For the audience Q&A, she was joined by report coauthor Paulette Cha.
College completion boosts economic mobility, reduces poverty, and increases civic engagement. As Malagon noted, “Higher education can be a long-term investment in an individual’s future as well as the state’s economic future.” But for many students, the cost of college is a key barrier to completion.
A substantial share of the students in the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and California Community College (CCC) systems are low income. The PPIC report assesses the impact of two of the largest safety net programs on those with the lowest incomes: CalFresh (federally known as SNAP) and Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program).
Malagon explained that while there are many safety net programs that can support low-income students, “We focus on CalFresh and Medi-Cal because they provide cash (or cash-like) benefits and they also have the biggest poverty-mitigating impact.”
CalFresh, which helps low-income Californians pay for food, can significantly reduce or even erase the financial burden of a low-income student at any of the three public systems. However, many students who are probably eligible do not enroll. This could be partly due to complex eligibility rules: “CalFresh does have a student-specific requirement that is very technical,” said Cha. “You have to be kind of knowledgeable to be certain that you qualify.”
The cash impact of Medi-Cal applies to UC students, who must either purchase UC’s plan or show proof of other insurance coverage. Given that the UC plan costs students about $3,600 per year in premiums and fees, students who show proof of Medi-Cal enrollment can see their financial burdens dramatically reduced or erased.
Although Medi-Cal enrollment does not have this kind of cash value for students at CSU and CCC, access to care is a key benefit in and of itself. As Cha noted, the importance of health insurance coverage is “not just about the value of that product but also about managing the risk of catastrophic health care costs.”
Given the benefits of enrolling in CalFresh and Medi-Cal, why aren’t more students participating? Malagon pointed out that many students may not know about these resources. Also, as Cha noted, “It is really complicated to go through the enrollment process for a lot of these programs.” The state has taken several steps that could help connect students to benefits—including expanding Medi-Cal to undocumented young adults, investing in basic needs centers, and sending notices of potential safety net eligibility along with financial aid offers.
“Getting it on students’ minds that this is available and they should look into it, and that there are supports on campus . . . is a really good start,” said Cha. But more could be done to connect campus basic needs centers with financial aid offices and Medi-Cal navigators, and the state could leverage data from its Cradle-to-Career database to identify students who might be eligible for safety net benefits.
