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Imperial Valley Press: California lawmakers move to modernize Cal Grant Aid as living costs soar
March 26, 2026 — The Imperial Valley Press covered Wednesday’s unanimous Senate Education Committee vote to advance SB 1006, a bill that would index California’s Cal Grant B access awards to inflation for the first time in the program’s history. The current award — $1,648 a year for non-tuition expenses like rent, food, and books — has lost more than 80% of its real value since it was established in 1969, while off-campus living costs now routinely top $30,000 a year. Public Advocates’ Director of Higher Education Sbeydeh Viveros-Walton put it plainly: tuition, groceries, and rents don’t freeze in place, and neither should state financial aid. The bill now heads to Senate Appropriations. California has let this gap widen for 50 years. Every year it doesn’t act, it’s making a choice — and the students paying for that choice are the ones who can least afford it..