CA AB1285

Removes the 2% limit on new Cal Grant B recipients eligible for tuition and fee payments in their first academic year of enrollment, replacing it with a phased-in approach: 25% for 2015-16, 50% for 2016-17, 75% for 2017-18, and 100% beginning in 2018-19.

Requires the Student Aid Commission to adopt regulations prioritizing students with the lowest expected family contribution and highest academic merit when determining who receives both tuition/fees plus access grants in the first year.

Removes the requirement that institutions maintain institutional need-based grant funding at 2013-14 levels and not supplant those grants with Cal Grant B funds.

Requires institutions to use Cal Grant B tuition assistance awards to offset the highest interest rate student loans in a recipient's financial aid package, or apply those funds to offset high-interest loans for other Cal Grant recipients if the student has no loans.

Becomes operative on July 1, 2015.