The California College Promise Grant (CCPG) offers a tuition and fee waiver to low-income students and students with special classifications across 115 California community colleges. Annually, more than one million students — nearly half of all California community college students — rely on the CCPG to pursue their educational and career goals.
The CCPG application’s design has remained unchanged since 2005, with the exception of adding legislatively mandated questions to the four-page application. But, expanding student access to financial aid is paramount to expanding student access to higher education. It’s also a central driver of the California Community Colleges’ multi-year strategic plan and its steadfast
commitment to equity.
The Student Centered Design Lab (SCDL), a research and design unit housed at the Foundation for California Community Colleges (FoundationCCC), partnered with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to redesign the application, specifically aiming to:
- Reduce student hassles in application access and completion
- Increase overall student usage of the application
- Increase overall state financial aid dollars awarded to eligible students.