Postsecondary education: student financial aid dependency status: juveniles.

Assembly Member Ahrens proposes new documentation standards for financial aid administrators evaluating dependency status adjustments for students who are current or former foster youth, wards of the juvenile court, or probation youth. The legislation requires California's public higher education institutions to accept sworn attestations from local education agencies, child welfare departments, and probation departments as sufficient documentation for unusual circumstances adjustments to dependency status.

The bill establishes confidentiality requirements for information shared between agencies and institutions to facilitate these students' college enrollment and financial aid access. Personnel at county child welfare departments, probation departments, and local educational agencies may provide verification of a student's current or previous status to higher education institutions upon the student's request. Institutions must maintain this information in confidential files for three years after the student's last enrollment term before destroying the records. Intentional violations of these confidentiality provisions constitute a misdemeanor punishable by fines up to $500.

The measure applies to the California State University and California Community College systems, while requesting the University of California Board of Regents to adopt corresponding policies. Financial aid administrators retain the ability to accept other forms of documentation beyond sworn attestations when evaluating unusual circumstances adjustments. The legislation includes provisions addressing state-mandated costs for local agencies implementing these requirements.