OUR POLICY AGENDA
SoCal CAN advocates at the local, state and national levels for policies that increase college access and completion for underrepresented students.
Advocacy Overview
SoCal CAN is excited to announce our network’s 2023-2024 policy priorities. Through a participatory process we have identified four priorities that will enable our network to advocate for change. These priorities continue our longstanding commitment to uplift student voices, breakdown systemic barriers, and fight for equity. We look forward to continue working with student advocates and policy partners to advance student-centered solutions that will modernize California’s postsecondary ecosystem to meet the needs of today’s students.
Our 2023-24 Policy Agenda seeks to advance policies that will fortify financial aid, fulfill basic needs, eliminate equity gaps, and improve life after college. SoCal CAN will continue to engage with students, families, member organizations, and advocates in thoughtful and visionary policy discussions. We look forward to your partnership and collaboration to help us envision and champion a more equitable future for students in California.
Together We Can! Click on any of our four policy priorities below to learn more.
SoCal CAN Changemakers Fellow Yvette Hernandez provides witness testimony during the Senate Education Committee hearing. Yvette shared her story with scholarship displacement and encouraged policymakers to support AB 288. View her testimony by clicking on the picture above.
Bill Spotlight: AB 288
In 2021-22, SoCal CAN co-sponsored the CA Ban on Scholarship Displacement with the Northern California College Promise Coalition and Scholarship America. California became the 5th state in the nation to pass a ban on scholarship displacement. Commencing with the 2023-24 academic year, AB 288 prohibits all public and private institutions of higher education in California that receive, or benefit from, state-funded financial assistance, or that enroll students who receive state-funded student financial assistance, from reducing the institutional gift aid offer of a student who is eligible to receive a federal Pell Grant award or financial assistance under the California Dream Act as a result of receiving private scholarship awards.