California § 66027.82 - For purposes of this section,

§ 66027.82. For purposes of this section,

(a) For purposes of this section, “student parent” has the same meaning as defined in Section 66025.81. (b) On or before July 31, 2025, the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the office of the Chancellor of the California State University shall, and the office of the President of the University of California is requested to, develop and disseminate a policy to estimate and adjust cost of attendance information for student parents. The policy shall include student parent cost of attendance policy guidance that includes, but is not limited to, both of the following: (1) A financial aid methodology to calculate and update a student parent’s cost of attendance that includes the actual expected costs of food, housing, transportation, and dependent childcare. This methodology shall be based on available annual cost of attendance information that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following: (A) Food plans developed by the United States Department of Agriculture. (B) The State Department of Social Services’ reimbursement ceilings for subsidized childcare, disaggregated by county, age, and types of care. (C) The actual cost of on-campus family housing, the cost of a student parent’s off-campus housing, and, if a student parent does not have safe or adequate housing, the fair market rent, as described in Section 888.113 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations, for an apartment in the metropolitan area or nonmetropolitan county where the campus is located, disaggregated by student parent family size. (D) Transportation costs, disaggregated by student parent family size, that considers available information such as institutional survey responses and the Student Aid Commission’s Student Expenses and Resources Survey. (2) Model instructions for purposes of all of the following: (A) Identifying a student parent for purposes of adjusting the student parent’s cost of attendance to include food, housing, transportation, and childcare expenses. The model instructions shall include, but are not limited to, confirmation by a financial aid officer based on information found in the student parent’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid or California Dream Act application. (B) Updating and posting cost of attendance and dependent care allowance information, using student-friendly language, on campus internet websites. The posted information shall include, but is not limited to, financial aid internet websites, and the student parent internet web page, as set forth in Section 66027.81. (C) Sharing cost of attendance information in admitted student materials. (D) Explaining the dependent care allowance to student parents. (E) Informing student parents of affordable childcare options offered by the campus or within the local community. (c) On or before the start of the 2026–27 academic year, each campus of the California Community Colleges and the California State University shall, and each campus of the University of California is requested to, implement the policy developed and disseminated pursuant to subdivision (b). (d) (1) (A) On or before the start of the 2026–27 academic year, the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall establish a data element in the systemwide data management information system to identify student parents. (B) On or before the start of the 2026–27 academic year, each campus of the California State University shall, and each campus of the University of California is requested to, establish a data field in the campus’s data management information system to identify student parents. (2) On or before the start of the 2026–27 academic year, each campus of the California Community Colleges and the California State University shall, and each campus of the University of California is requested to, do all of the following: (A) Enter student parent data in the data field or the data element established pursuant to paragraph (1). (B) Report student parent data obtained pursuant to this subdivision to the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the office of the Chancellor of the California State University, and the office of the President of the University of California, respectively, for their request of the governing board established pursuant to Section 10864 to include that student parent data in the California Cradle-to-Career Data System established pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 10850) of Chapter 8.5 of Part 7 of Division 1 of Title 1. (C) Use the data field or the data element established pursuant to paragraph (1) for additional purposes, which may include, but are not limited to, granting priority course registration and providing information about available public benefits to student parents. (e) On or before the start of the 2026–27 academic year, each campus of the California Community Colleges and the California State University shall, and each campus of the University of California is requested to, update the campus net price calculator to include a baseline student parent cost estimate, disaggregated by age and number of dependent children, using the methodologies and information described in this section and any available federal guidance on best practices.