An examination of California’s Students with Dependent Children Award has identified significant administrative obstacles preventing eligible student parents from accessing the supplemental financial assistance. The award provides up to $6,000 in additional funding to Cal Grant recipients to help cover expenses including housing and childcare. According to the analysis led by California Competes and EdTrust-West, administrative challenges and certification requirements are the primary factors limiting program participation among student parents who qualify for the aid.
During the 2023-24 academic year, approximately 131,000 undergraduates applied for financial aid and identified as parents. Of this group, roughly 110,000 received Cal Grant offers and were invited to complete a required certification form. However, participation dropped significantly at this stage, with only 40,000 completing the certification process and approximately 38,500 ultimately receiving the award—representing 29 percent of all student parents who initially applied. The largest barrier occurred during the certification step, where thousands of eligible applicants did not complete the required documentation.
The financial impact of these barriers extends beyond the individual aid amounts. The analysis estimates that up to $300 million in award funding could go unclaimed annually due to difficulties identifying student parents and streamlining program access. Recent changes to federal financial aid applications further complicated identification of eligible student parents, contributing to a 32 percent decline in awards during the 2024-25 academic year compared to the previous year. Student parents face disproportionate rates of housing and food insecurity compared to non-parenting students, making access to this support particularly critical.
To address these obstacles, the analysis recommends streamlining the certification process by allowing students to submit forms without waiting for invitations, improving visibility of award information, enhancing data collection on student parents, enabling direct institutional verification of eligibility, and integrating reminders throughout the financial aid process. Broader improvements to state data infrastructure could enable automatic qualification based on existing benefit receipt. Implementation of these recommendations could improve not only award participation but also student persistence and degree completion rates by reducing the financial barriers that lead students to leave higher education.
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