About College Access Foundation of California

College Access Foundation of California helps California students who have significant financial need attend college.  The foundation makes grants to community organizations and programs that offer advice and academic support to students, and use foundation dollars to award college scholarships.

Since its inception in 2005, the foundation has made over $50 million in grants to more than 100 community organizations and education programs throughout California. These organizations in turn have awarded nearly 20,000 scholarships to low-income and first-generation students.

The foundation is also supporting efforts to determine how scholarships can encourage persistence and graduation among college students, and is fostering a learning community of scholarship providers and others to share best practices in scholarship giving and support to students.

The foundation was formed with assets from the sale of Chela Education Financing, Inc., a nonprofit student loan company.  Today, its endowment is approximately $400 million. In 2008, Julia I. Lopez was named foundation president and CEO.