Financial Aid - AB130-131

California DREAM Act (CADAA)

  • The California Dream Act Application allows students interested in attending eligible California Colleges, Universities, and Career Education Programs to apply for state financial aid. This application is unrelated to the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the previously proposed national DREAM Act Legislations. This application is free. The information provided on your California Dream Act Application is used to calculate your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The EFC is used by UC Davis to determine your eligibility for financial aid. You can apply for financial aid before you apply for admissions.
  • For more information about CADAA review the information on the UC Davis Financial Aid Office website: https://financialaid.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/apply  and or the California Student Aid Commissions website at: https://dream.csac.ca.gov/

Assembly Bill (AB) 130

  • AB 130 allows universities to award institutional gifts and endowments designated for scholarships by the donor to Undocumented students with AB 540 verifications on file effective January 1st, 2012. AB 130 authorized UC campuses to resume making scholarship awards from these funds to Undocumented students as they did prior to 1996. In 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act was passed at the federal level prohibiting Undocumented students from receiving any awards from university funds. Award amounts vary considerably across students, depending on campus policies and the terms of the fund. AB 130 also allows UC's to seek and award private donations that are specifically designated as scholarships for Undocumented students with AB540 verifications on file. 

Assembly Bill (AB) 131

  • AB 131 makes all AB 540 students - including those who are Undocumented - eligible for Cal Grant entitlement awards and Undocumented AB 540 students eligible for awards from other institutional aid funds, including tuition and fee revenue (e.g., UC's aid program from "return-to-aid" that funds UC's systemwide minimum commitment to financial aid for all undergraduates). AB 131 allows the UC's to resume making awards from all UC funds to AB 540 Undocumented students, as was possible prior to the federal prohibition in 1996.
  • SB 132 in 2021 extends private, non-state-based, institutional aid access to non-AB 540 undocumented students.