News

On March 24th, uAspire staff, students, and partners gathered in Sacramento for our 2026 California Advocacy Day, an energizing and impactful day dedicated to advancing college affordability and financial aid access across the state.

Over the course of the day, our participants met with more than 30 legislative offices, a quarter of the California State Legislature. These meetings created critical opportunities to elevate student experiences and advocate for policies that improve financial aid systems and college affordability.

Across every conversation, we emphasized the importance of sustained investment in students, including calling on the legislature to reject the proposed cuts to the Middle Class Scholarship program and invest in programs that increase FAFSA/CADAA completion and access to basic needs resources across California. 

Student Voices at the Center

A highlight of the day was the participation of several students as well as a recent graduate, who joined uAspire staff and partners in meetings throughout the Capitol.

We kicked off the morning with a thoughtful conversation featuring Sarah Pauter, Executive Director of John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY), who joined us to discuss their legislative priorities for the year, including several key uAspire legislative priorities for which JBAY is a sponsor. 

This conversation also centered around how personal and lived experiences are essential to facilitating change, with Executive Director Pauter sharing how her own experiences navigating higher education as a former foster youth inspired her pathway to becoming a policy leader and now head of one of California’s foremost advocacy organizations for foster youth.

Building Community Through Advocacy

One of the key parts of this year’s advocacy day was the very first uAspire networking lunch, which brought together nearly 20 uAspire members, Capitol staff, and partners from across the advocacy community. This gathering created space not just for relationship-building, but for deepening collaboration and the collective effort to advance equitable higher education policy in California. 

uAspire’s Priority Issues 

Here is a list of issues that uAspire students and staff elevated at the Capitol this year:

• SB 961 (Ashby) simplifies CalFresh eligibility for students by affirming that any degree or certificate program at a public institution of higher education is eligible for approval as a Local Program that Increases Employability (LPIE). By recognizing that these educational programs directly enhance student employability, the bill encourages the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to formally approve these programs because they meet one or more components of the SNAP E&T program. uAspire is a co-sponsor of this legislation.

• AB 2766 (Ahrens) focuses on supporting foster youth and students experiencing homelessness through several targeted measures including guaranteeing priority housing for former foster youth and homeless students and prohibiting any collection of housing deposits and fees until financial aid is disbursed to students. 
• AB 2251 (Rodriguez) aims to improve transparency and flexibility in cost of attendance calculations and grants students the ability to request adjustments to any expense category included in the institution’s COA budget as many times as necessary during the school year, and with timely review. 
• SB 1255 (Reyes) & AB 2374 (Fong) establish state-based versions of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) and Asian American- and Native American Pacific Islander (AANAPI) serving designations, respectively. These bills, which are a package of bills being worked together by racial justice and higher education equity advocates, are critical to ensuring not only a designation for institutions who enroll a large number of Latinx and AAPI students, but also holding them accountable to ensure active investments are made by these designated institutions to ensure graduation, retention, and success of these students.
• AB 1534 (Irwin) provides a strong policy framework for the implementation of Workforce Pell in California and builds on federal requirements by establishing important guardrails to ensure Workforce Pell-eligible programs in California are high quality and aligned with student success. The bill strengthens institutional accountability and accreditation safeguards, protects students against predatory financing, promotes program affordability, and establishes data collection and transparency to evaluate program outcomes.
• Opposing the Governor’s proposed $500M cuts to Middle Class Scholarship Act and calling on the legislature to reject these cuts and protect California’s commitment to a debt-free pathway to college.
• Investing in Efforts to Increase Financial Aid Completion in CA by funding $24M one-time for 3 years to build capacity for the CalSOAP program at the CA Student Aid Commission, creating a multi-year grant program targeted at increasing CADAA application and completion rates at the K-12 level, and ensuring the CCC block grant includes provision mandating a minimum of $10M to be used for student financial aid administration and capacity building support to help with Community College financial aid advising and support.
• Calling on the state to create a workgroup at the CA Student Aid Commission dedicated to standardizing financial aid offers in California. uAspire continues to lead the advocacy around this issue in California, following our December report, Caution: Prices May Vary, which found continuing and concerning patterns of variation and confusing structures among institution financial aid offers.

Moving Forward

This year’s uAspire Advocacy Day was a powerful reminder that change happens through both policy and people. From student voices to legislative engagement, every conversation moved us closer to a more equitable financial aid system.

We’re grateful to everyone who participated and to the legislative offices who took the time to engage with us. We look forward to continuing these conversations and building on them in the months ahead.'