Undergraduates at California's public colleges now have an easier path into CalFresh, California's name for the federal SNAP food program, which can pay eligible students up to $306 a month for groceries.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that every undergraduate working toward a degree at a community college, California State University or University of California campus now meets the initial requirements to apply. Before the change, proving eligibility was a cumbersome process that discouraged many qualifying students from applying at all, the governor's office said.
No new benefit is being created, the governor's office said, and students still have to meet the financial test and carry at least a half-time load toward an associate or bachelor's degree. What it removes is the extra paperwork step that stood between those students and an application.
Who could gain
The state expects more than 200,000 additional students to sign up, bringing in more than a quarter-billion dollars in food aid, the governor's office said. CalFresh already serves nearly 5.2 million people a month in more than 3.1 million households. The benefits are paid with federal money, while counties run the program.
"You shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get the food benefits you're entitled to, and now you don't have to," Newsom said in a statement. Jennifer Troia, who directs the California Department of Social Services, said she hoped the changes would ease students' access to CalFresh, which she called "the largest anti-hunger program in the country."