BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    






                         SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                              Gloria Romero, Chair
                           2009-2010 Regular Session
                                        

          BILL NO:       AB 2402
          AUTHOR:        Block
          AMENDED:       June 17, 2010
          FISCAL COMM:   Yes            HEARING DATE:  June 30, 2010
          URGENCY:       No             CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira

           SUBJECT  :  California State University Admissions
          
           KEY POLICY ISSUE
           
          Should the campuses of the California State University be  
          required to provide notice and transparency around any  
          change in their local admissions criteria?
          
           
          SUMMARY
           
          This bill requires the Trustees of the California State  
          University (CSU) to ensure that any changes in the  
          admission criteria for campus admission comply with  
          specified consultation, public meeting, notification and  
          disclosure requirements, and prohibits any change from  
          becoming effective until one year has elapsed, or six  
          months, if the change is based upon the resources of the  
          local service area of the affected campus.

           BACKGROUND
           
          Current law establishes the California State University and  
          creates a Board of Trustees responsible for its  
          administration.  The Trustees are designated the authority  
          to adopt rules and regulations for the government of the  
          CSU. Current law requires specified notice and hearing  
          procedures prior to the adoption, amendment or repeal of  
          regulations. (Education Code  89001, 89030, 89030.1)

           ANALYSIS
           
           This bill  :








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          1)   Requires, for purposes of ensuring public notice and  
               transparency that the CSU Trustees ensure that changes  
               in the criteria for admission to a university campus  
               comply with specified requirements.  Specifically,  
               prior to adopting a change in criteria for admissions  
               that affects applicants residing within the local  
               service area, a campus must:

                    a)             Consult with stakeholders  
                    (including the governing boards of school  
                    districts, community college districts, and  
                    community organizations) located within the local  
                    service area in a public meeting.

                    b)             Hold three public hearings in the  
                    campus' local service area to solicit public  
                    comment on the proposed change.

                    c)             Provide public notice, as  
                    specified, of the proposed change on the campus'  
                    website and in three newspapers of general  
                    circulation in the local service area that  
                    includes a description of the proposed change,  
                    the right of the public to comment, and the date,  
                    time and locations of the meetings.

                    d)             Publish all public comments and  
                    university responses, as well as the university's  
                    final decision on the website of the affected  
                    campus.

                    e)             Submit the proposed change to the  
                    Chancellor of the CSU for approval who is  
                    required to decide and report on the decision to  
                    the Trustees in writing at their next regularly  
                    scheduled meeting.

                    f)             Prohibits a change from becoming  
                    effective before a year has elapsed after the  
                    change is approved, except that a change in the  
                    criteria based on resources that affect  
                    applicants within the local service area may  
                    become effective after 6 months have elapsed  








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                    since approval by the Chancellor. 

          2)   Applies these requirements to all changes in the  
               admission criteria that affect eligibility of local  
               service area applicants, including change to transfer  
               requirements and determinations regarding impaction of  
               majors.

          3)   Defines "local service area" for purposes of the bill.

           STAFF COMMENTS
           
           1)   Need for the bill  . According to the author, San Diego  
               State University (SDSU) recently implemented admission  
               changes without notifying the surrounding community  
               that would have been affected.  Because students had  
               planned their academic curriculum for the original  
               admissions criteria, many students found themselves  
               unqualified for eligibility to enroll at SDSU, a goal  
               they had already spent years working towards.

               This bill outlines the procedurally transparent steps  
               which must be taken before changes to admissions  
               criteria that affect applicants in a local service  
               area are approved. 

           2)   Local admission guarantee  . This bill defers the  
               definition of "local service area" to CSU Coded  
               Memorandum AA-2005-05 which delineates the geographic  
               territory assigned to each campus for purposes of  
               providing local high schools and community college  
               information about the CSU and its campuses and for  
               campus impaction purposes.  

               Local first-time freshmen and upper-division transfer  
          students are                                 defined as  
          those students who graduate from a high school district or  
          community college district, respectively, historically  
          served by a CSU                              campus in that  
          region. Under the guarantee, CSU eligible local first-time  
          freshman and upper-division transfer students are required  
          to be                                        admitted to an  
          impacted campus on the basis of established CSU system  
          admission policies.   According to the CSU,  the local  








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          admission guarantee                          applies to  
          impacted campuses, but not to impacted majors and programs.

           3)   Impaction  .   An undergraduate major, program, or  
               campus is designated as impacted (subject to approval  
               by the Chancellor) when it receives more eligible  
               applicants during the initial filing period than it  
               can accommodate given its instructional resources and  
               physical capacity.  Impaction may be defined by  
               specific program or by the entering class level (i.e.   
               first -time freshmen or upper division transfers), or  
               some combination of these. Programs or campuses are  
               then authorized to include supplemental criteria  
               (approved by the Chancellor) to screen applicants  
               within a specific enrollment category.  

               Campuses that are impacted are authorized to implement  
          supplemental                                            
          admission criteria for applicants who reside outside the  
          local area of the                                       
          campus, but CSU eligible local first-time freshman and  
          local upper-division                                    
          transfer students are required to be admitted to an  
          impacted  campus  on the basis of established CSU systemwide  
          admission policies.  However,                           
          admission to a specific program cannot be assured if the  
           program  is impacted.

               According the CSU Enrollment and Management Policy and  
          Practices,                                              
          consistent with the enrollment priorities outlined in  
          statute, California                                     
          Community College transfer students who have successfully  
          concluded a                                             
          course of study in an approved transfer agreement program  
          receive priority over all other applicants to the CSU.  

           4)   Current status  .  The CSU reports that, of its 23  
               campuses, 12 are impacted at the upper division  
               transfer level, 13 are impacted for first time  
               freshmen, and two, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO) and  
               San Diego State University (SDSU) are impacted in all  
               majors.  As of 2008, all campuses, except SLO and SDSU  
               indicate that they accept all first-time freshmen  








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               applicants that graduate from high schools in the  
               local service area and meet systemwide eligibility  
               criteria. 

               SLO has reportedly been impacted for over twenty  
          years. SDSU was                              recently  
          approved to declare impaction at each major by the CSU.  At  
               SDSU, at the first-time freshmen level 80 percent of  
          the class is selected                        on the basis  
          of an eligibility index higher than that required for  
          regular CSU admission. The remaining 20 percent are  
          selected on the basis of                     local area  
          entitlement, socioeconomic or education factors,  
          exceptional talents, or other criteria. 

           5)   Related legislation  .  AB 2401 (Block) requires the  
               California State University (CSU) to  provide  
               applicants residing in the local service area (LSA)  
               priority for admission to the applicant's local CSU  
               campus over other California residents or out-of-state  
               applicants entering as first-time freshman or  
               sophomores.  AB 2401 is also on the agenda for the  
               committee's consideration today.

           SUPPORT
           
          American Federation of State, County and Municipal  
          Employees (AFL-CIO)
          California State University
          Community College League of California
          Latino Concilio on Higher Education of San Diego County
          We Advocate Gender Equity

           OPPOSITION

           None received.