Newsom Signs Bill To Temporarily Extend FAFSA Deadline By Another Month

Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill to extend the 2024-2025 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) deadline on Monday, pushing the deadline in California to ahead by one month from April 2nd to May 2nd to allow families more time to apply for the Cal Grant program and Middle Class Scholarship college grant programs.

Most years, FAFSA forms are due by early March for students applying for the 2024-2025 school year. However, this year, there has been a nationwide problem when students apply for FAFSA related student aid. With updates to forms to make them easier to fill out, and to expand the number of students getting federal and state aid, students with undocumented parents have had a difficult time accessing FAFSA. This is because the parental income amount, a requirement for all FAFSA forms, does not accept those from illegal immigrants. Specifically it affects parents without social security numbers.

While the problem was somewhat fixed last week with California extending a temporary deadline from March to April 2nd, many families fell behind on paperwork.

“It affected a lot of students,” explained education document advisor Lexi Martinez to the Globe on Tuesday. “If you want to see how insane it was at its peak, look at some of these Reddit posts. They were literally saying things like ‘The federal government doesn’t care about illegal immigrants’ or ‘California doesn’t want the children of migrants to go to college.’ No. There was a glitch in the system. Stop complaining and just let the system handle it. It is frustrating, but fixing the issue takes time.”

To give students another month, Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) authored Assembly Bill 1887, the sole purpose which is to extend another temporary deadline to apply from April 2nd to May 2nd. Marked as an emergency bill, AB 1187 started off in Assembly committees last Monday, was passed by the Assembly later that day, went through Senate committees the next two days, and on Thursday, was passed by the Senate 37-0.

AB 1887 signed into law

While both Republicans and Democrats backed the bill, only a few chose not to vote, with no nay votes recorded. Nonetheless, opponents charged that students still had enough time to apply by the April deadline and that lawmakers should have been focusing on other important issues like the budget crisis first rather than the FAFSA issue.

“There were some rumblings about it,” Dana, a Capitol staffer told the Globe Tuesday. “You know, neither side voted that way. It was something that had been not a problem previously and both sides want the Latino vote. But yeah, grumblings about having to deal with this instead of the budget issue were there. And they had a point. But if they didn’t do this, then you would have had a lot of students saying that they were screwed out of college or denied entitled funds and that is something that can open up federal issues, so they just extended the deadline just in case. If you can’t figure out how to apply by May, you know, then there are issues not with the government there.”

Following the Senate vote, Newsom was expected to sign the bill within the next few days, with him finally signing the bill into law on Monday. While no official statement from the Governor was given, his office did announce the signing on X later that day, saying, “California is extending the FAFSA student aid application deadline from April 2 to May 2 – giving students another month to apply for and secure critical funds to help them succeed.”

🚨FAFSA DEADLINE EXTENDED🚨

California is extending the FAFSA student aid application deadline from April 2 to May 2 – giving students another month to apply for and secure critical funds to help them succeed. pic.twitter.com/UAOAiyOi1k

— California Governor (@CAgovernor) March 26, 2024

Assemblywoman Cervantes also celebrated the bill being signed, adding in a statement that ” ASSEMBLY BILL 1887 HAS BEEN SIGNED INTO LAW BY Governor Gavin Newsom! The application deadline for state financial aid programs like Cal Grant & Middle Class Scholarship is now extended to MAY 2, giving CA students more time to complete the FAFSA!

“I am grateful to Gov. Newsom for signing AB 1887 into law, and to Speaker Rivas and Senate Pro Tem McGuire for working with me to move the bill so quickly through the legislative process, so we could get our students immediate assistance.”

🚨ASSEMBLY BILL 1887 HAS BEEN SIGNED INTO LAW BY @CAgovernor @GavinNewsom! The application deadline for state financial aid programs like Cal Grant & Middle Class Scholarship is now extended to MAY 2, giving CA students more time to complete the #FAFSA! #DeliveringResults💪🏽 1/x pic.twitter.com/qzpFOh1vBU

— Sabrina Cervantes (@AsmCervantes) March 26, 2024

As an urgent bill, AB 1887 was automatically made law upon signing, with the new deadline reflected on official sites on Monday and Tuesday. Some noted that while the bill was brought up and passed in just over a weeks’ time, focus is now heading back towards the upcoming state budget.

“We’re back on the budget now,” continued Dana. “It’s almost April. Barring another major urgent issue or natural disaster, that’s where the focus will be. It’s coming up sooner than you think. It always does.”

The FAFSA deadline in California is officially May 2nd as of Tuesday.