The COVID-19 health crisis has laid bare the structural inequity in the financial aid system. The pandemic has hit the lowest-income students hardest, with many struggling to afford the basic technology for online learning on top of new or exacerbated food and housing insecurity. Federal and state dollars predicated on Pell Grant eligibility, time out of high school, or other criteria, means California's neediest students, most often California Community College students, are ineligible for the aid they need to study and survive. College affordability is a critical subject of national, state, and local interest. While student debt has understandably become a focus in many of these conversations, this analysis has been centered around the potential expansion of grant aid that can help more students better afford college without overreliance on loans or credit cards. The time to complete a program is also a major factor in the costs borne by students to earn a certificate or degree. The Campaign has previously published research on how unclear, inconsistent pathways and excess course-taking translates into additional costs for transfer students seeking baccalaureate degrees and unpacked those issues in a 2017 report, "The Transfer Maze" (ED582668). In this brief, the aim is to provide California policymakers with a picture of the gaps in the state's efforts on college affordability and inform the work ahead so the state can better serve all its students and so that money is not a barrier for students to earn their degrees.