San Francisco — Community-college students in California may see their student-aid grants delayed because the state’s leaders have been unable to agree on a budget and the state is starting to run out of money.

In what is becoming a common occurrence in recent years, California will issue IOU’s for $13-million in payments to colleges for the Cal Grants program, forcing either campuses or students to come up with the money instead. The payment delays for Cal Grants and other programs, which started yesterday and will continue for at least a month, are designed to keep California afloat while lawmakers hash out a budget to meet the state’s estimated $15-billion deficit.

The budget impasse has left colleges in the state scrambling to ensure that students will not be hurt. The University of California and California State University systems have said they would use institutional funds or other means of covering the students’ costs until the grants are disbursed.

But many of the 86,000 community-college students who receive Cal Grants may not be covered, putting some of them in a financial bind. Erik Skinner, the community-college system’s vice chancellor for fiscal policy, said last month that campuses would deal with the situation on a case-by-case basis, but many of them would have a tough time coming up with the money.

“If a college is worried about making its own payroll,” Mr. Skinner said, “it’s tough to set aside something for anybody else.” —Josh Keller