Place on Your Letterhead Or Include Your Address Block If Mailing, Faxing Or Hand Delivering

[Place on your letterhead or include your address block if mailing, faxing or hand delivering]

[INSERT date]

Governor Jerry Brown

State Capitol, Suite 1173

Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: Request for Signature AB 801 (Bloom)Success for Homeless Youth in Higher Education Act

Dear Governor Brown:

[INSERT name of your organization]is pleased to support and urges your signature on Assembly Bill 801, the Success for Homeless Youth in Higher Education Act. [INSERT information about your organization].

California has the highest rate of homeless youth in the nation and twice the rate of homeless students as the national average. Child and youth homelessness has increased nearly 40% since 2009-2010. During the 2013-2014 school year, nearly 300,000 California students experienced homelessness. Twenty-seven percent of these students were enrolled in grades 9-12, an age when they are looking toward higher education as their best chance to come out of homelessness.Poverty, mobility, and the stress of struggling to meet basic needs make higher education a challenge for homeless students. AB 801 addresses many of these barriers in sensible, efficient ways.

First, AB 801 offers homeless youth priority enrollment in California State Universities, community college districts, and University of California schools that administer a priority enrollment system. Foster youth receive this priority, and given the extreme challenges of poverty and mobility homeless students face, they need the same support. AB 801 requires homeless youth to receive a determination of eligibility from service providers. The bill adds homeless students to those eligible for the Community College Student Financial Aid Outreach Program and the Student Opportunity and Access Program.

Second, AB 801 waives community college enrollment fees, helping ensure that the instability caused by homelessness does not prevent students from receiving in-state tuition. As is already the case for foster youth, this bill gives students residing in California who are age 19 and under, resident classification for in-state tuition if they have been verified as homeless over the prior two years. Eligibility is verified by a third-party homeless services provider, as defined under existing law.

Finally, AB 801 requires designation of a Homeless and Foster Student Liaison within the financial aid office to inform students about assistance available at qualifying institutions in the California State University and community colleges systems, and requests them at University of California campuses. This Liaison is currently employed in the financial aid office and aware of homeless and foster students’ rights and can assist them in accessing it. This model is endorsed by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as a best practice for assisting students experiencing homelessness. The amount of financial aid a student receives while attending a two-year college is the single strongest predictor of graduation.

For these reasons, I urge your signature on AB 801.

Sincerely,

[INSERT Your Full Name]

[INSERT Your Title (if applicable)]