About 1,400 San Joaquin Delta College students run the risk of losing out on financial-aid packages during the state's budget impasse.
Officials Monday said they will not release $220 million in grants to the California Community Colleges, University of California and California State University systems.
Delta stands to lose its first Cal Grant payment of about $560,000 in August, and there's no money at Delta to make up the costs temporarily, said Maria Elena Serna, a Delta trustee.
Serna described Delta's situation during a conference call with Gov. Gray Davis and state education officials.
"It's imperative the Legislature pass a budget and end the impasse," Serna said. "Students' lives have been disrupted. We are talking about the future of the people of California."
Serna is the community college representative on the 15-member California Student Aid Commission.
Other call participants included Diana Fuentes-Michel, executive director of the Student Aid Commission; Kerry Mazzoni, the governor's education secretary; Allison Jones, assistant vice chancellor of academic affairs at CSU; and Larry Hershman, vice president of the University of California.
In a later interview, Serna said community colleges are very vulnerable, because they don't have the the money the university systems have to help students through the budget crisis.
Delta needs the money by Aug. 11, and a budget will need to be passed by the beginning of that month for students to get the money on time.
All told, Delta gets about
$1.7 million in Cal Grant funding.
Cal Grants are California's state-funded college scholarships.
The majority of Delta students get a type of Cal Grant that gives low-income students up to $1,551.
This grant is to be used for living expenses and expenses related to transportation, supplies and books.
"The failure to make this payment will wreak havoc for 200,000 students," Davis said.
As for the budget, Davis said, "There is no reason to delay. ... Delay is affecting people in the real world."
Robin Tindell, 29, is one of those people.
"This will definitely definitely impact me and other students," said Tindell, a full-time Delta student majoring in business who participated in the conference call.
"The fact that we may not be getting our (state grants) is a very scary and unsettling thought," she said. Tindell said she is a single mother of three children. "I depend on that money. ... If that is delayed, my education is delayed."