The report says more than one Million students around the country can't get those loans because their schools aren't in the federal loan program. But only a small portion of them are in California.

Debbie Cochran is with the Project on Student Debt, which released the study. 

"California is not one of the states with the worst problems, but still we found about 8% of the students in the California community colleges are attending institutions where they don’t have access to federal borrowing options." 

Those institutions include Modesto Junior College and Merced College, according to the report.

But critics of the study say the colleges have their reasons, including trying to protect students from borrowing too heavily. They say community colleges are usually much cheaper than four-year schools, so it's reasonable for some schools to tell students they shouldn't be borrowing.