A popular program helped California students pay for college. Now it may get axed
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LAO: COLLEGE CORPS NOT WORTH CONTINUING
Facing a tough budget year, legislative advisers are urging lawmakers to halt a popular program that lets California students trade volunteer work for college aid.
The state’s College Corps awards students $10,000 for tuition and living stipends in exchange for 450 volunteer hours with community organizations during the year. The stipends are paid monthly, while a $3,000 “education award” is paid to students at the conclusion.
Since its creation as a pilot program in 2021, the program has given fellowships to about 10,000 students from dozens of higher education institutions around the state.
College Corps operates through 45 different colleges and universities. It’s open to any student at those institutions who needs financial assistance, student loans or who works to put themself through college.
The program has grown in popularity and receives more applications than it can fund. More than 10,000 students applied to be in the current cohort, but about a third were accepted.
It helped students engage in community service and develop professionally while helping them pay for college, a report from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office acknowledged this week.
But the program is labor-intensive for universities to run. The report notes half of its total funding has been spent on administrative costs at both the state and campus levels.
“Though we recognize the benefits College Corps can provide to students and communities, the program entails significant administrative costs, and students can already participate in volunteer opportunities and receive financial aid through the state’s established higher education system,” the LAO report reads.
The analysis urges lawmakers to reject the $84 million proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to keep funding College Corps.
Lawmakers and the governor already have a tight budget year ahead, and the LAO report warned them to belt-tighten in the face of economic uncertainty.
“The budget faces a number of notable risks and uncertainties – including related to forecasted revenues, federal funding levels, and fire recovery costs – that could lead to the General Fund condition worsening over the coming months,” the report read. “Given this context, we recommend the Legislature apply a higher bar to its review of new spending proposals than it might in a year in which the General Fund has more capacity to support new commitments.”
The LAO recommendation comes as the program is recruiting for what could be its last cohort.
In a statement to The Sacramento Bee, State Service Officer Josh Fryday said the program “helps students graduate with less debt while benefiting the local community.” He added that alongside other state-sponsored volunteer groups, “College Corps fellows can be deployed to assist during disasters such as they did during the recent LA wildfires.”
FOR THE HATERS
Hours after dropping a new podcast episode featuring Steve Bannon, Newsom responded to critics of his MAGA-orbit guests in an email to supporters Wednesday afternoon.
He also announced former vice presidential nominee Tim Walz as his next guest.
“A lot of people have been asking me why I’m inviting right-wingers like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon on a podcast,” Newsom wrote.
Democrats and some independents have blasted the governor for platforming the right-wing commentators they accuse of perpetuating white supremacist and Christian nationalist ideas.
“First, I think it’s critically important for us to understand how the MAGA-right organized itself during the last election and what they are thinking about in the weeks, months and years ahead.”
Newsom said his podcast provides a rare place to push back on ideas promoted by Trump and his allies.
“And finally,” he wrote, “I think we all agreed after the last election that it’s important for Democrats to explore new and unique ways of talking to people. And by all accounts, these conversations are reaching lots of people.”
AN EARLY LOOK AT TIGHT MIDTERM RACES
via David Lightman
Rep. Adam Gray’s Central Valley congressional district is one of the country’s 10 most competitive, a new analysis by the nonpartisan Inside Elections group finds.
Gray is a freshman Democrat who ousted incumbent Rep. John Duarte, a Republican, by fewer than 200 votes last year.
Duarte “doesn’t appear likely to make a comeback bid. Gray is a top target for Republicans after winning one of the closest races in the country in 2024 but they’ll need a strong recruit,” the analysis says.
Democrats need a net gain of four House seats next year to win a majority. Inside Elections’ 10 most competitive races include seven seats now held by Republicans. The others are seats held by Gray, Reps. Derek Tran, D-Garden Grove and Don Davis, D-North Carolina.
Other California races are not seen as tossups. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican who represents a sprawling district that goes from the northeastern Sacramento suburbs to Lake Tahoe and down to Death Valley, is “likely” to keep his seat.
The analysis says, “A strong nominee and a favorable political environment could put it on the map for Democrats but other California seats are higher priorities.”
In the Fresno area, Rep. Jim Costa, a Democrat, ran “an unexpectedly close 2024 race against an unheralded Republican opponent” last year. That “has earned Costa a spot on initial GOP target lists,” the analysis says.
In the southern Central Valley, Rep. David Valadao, a Republican, has a history of tough races. He lost in 2018 and then regained his seat two years later.
“Valadao has proven his ability to win tough elections, but his lone blemish on his electoral record is losing re-election in a Trump midterm. He’ll have to be on watch to avoid a more conservative primary challenger boxing him out of the general election, as nearly happened in 2022,” Inside Elections says. It rates the race “Lean Republican.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Many of us on the right sacrificed careers to fight Bannon, and Newsom is trying to make a career and a presidential run by building him up. Unforgivable and insane.”
–Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)
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This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 4:55 AM with the headline "A popular program helped California students pay for college. Now it may get axed."
CORRECTION: This story was updated March 13, 2025 to correct the identification of Tim Walz.
