BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1440
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Date of Hearing: June 22, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
SB 1440 (Padilla) - As Amended: June 14, 2010
SUBJECT : California Community Colleges: student transfer.
SUMMARY : Establishes the Student Transfer Achievement Reform
Act (Act). Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes the Act and requires, commencing with the fall
term of the 2011-12 academic year, a California Community
College (CCC) district to grant an associate degree for
transfer to a student in his or her field of study that deems
the student eligible for transfer into a California State
University (CSU) baccalaureate program when the student:
a) Completes 60 semester or 90 quarter units that are
eligible for transfer to CSU that include the
Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum
(IGETC) or CSU General Education-Breadth Requirements
(GE-Breadth) and a minimum of 18 semester or 27 quarter
units in a major or area of emphasis, as determined by the
CCC district.
b) Obtains a minimum grade point average of 2.0.
2)Prohibits a CCC district or campus from imposing any
additional requirements for a student to be eligible for the
associate degree for transfer and subsequent admission to CSU
as outlined in this bill.
3)Encourages CCC districts to consider the local articulation
agreements and other work between respective faculties in
development of the associate degree for transfer and to
facilitate the acceptance of units at other CCC districts
toward the associate degree for transfer .
4)Provides that this bill does not preclude students who assess
at below collegiate levels from acquiring remedial
noncollegiate level coursework in preparing for obtaining the
transfer degree, but that remedial coursework shall not be
counted toward transferable units.
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5)Requires CSU to guarantee admission with junior status to any
CCC student who obtains a transfer degree, but provides that
CSU shall not guarantee admission for specific majors or
campuses. Provides that CSU shall grant a student priority
admission to a program or major that is similar to his or her
CCC major.
6)Provides that CSU may require transfer degree students to take
additional courses so long as the student is not required to
take any more than an additional 60 semester or 90 quarter
units at CSU for majors requiring 120 semester units or 180
quarter units. Exempts high unit majors from this provision,
upon agreement by the Chancellors of CSU and CCC and their
respective academic senates. Prohibits CSU from requiring
transfer degree students to repeat courses comparable to those
taken at CCC that counted toward the transfer degree.
7)Requires the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) to review and
report to the Legislature during the spring 2012 budget
committee hearings on the implementation of this bill and,
within four years of implementation, on outcomes in transfer
rates, time to degree, completion rates, and other relevant
indicators of student success, as well as any recommendations
for statutory changes necessary to achieve a clear and
transparent transfer process.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the segments of higher education to develop an
intersegmental common core curriculum in general education for
the purpose of transfer and provides that any student who
completes the course pattern is deemed to have completed the
lower division coursework required for transfer to the
University of California (UC) or CSU.
2)Requests UC to identify commonalities and differences in
similar majors across all UC campuses and provide CCC students
with the information in at least the top 20 majors.
3)Requires the CSU Chancellor in consultation with the CSU
Academic Senate to establish specified components necessary
for a clear degree path for transfer students, including
specification of a systemwide lower division transfer
curriculum for each high-demand baccalaureate major.
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4)Requires UC and CSU maintain a student body comprised of 60%
upper-division students and 40% lower-division students and
states legislative intent that both systems provide priority
enrollment, in numerical order, to the following categories of
students:
a. Continuing undergraduate students in good standing;
b. CCC transfer students who have successfully concluded a
course of study in an approved transfer agreement program;
c. Other CCC students who have met all of the requirements
for transfer, giving preference to students from
historically underrepresented groups or economically
disadvantaged families to the fullest extent possible in
transfer admissions decisions;
d. Other qualified transfer students; and,
e. California residents entering at the freshman or
sophomore levels.
5)Requires the governing board of each public postsecondary
education segment to be accountable for the development and
implementation of formal systemwide articulation agreements
and transfer agreement programs, including those for general
education or a transfer core curriculum, and other appropriate
procedures to support and enhance the transfer function.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, the General Fund enrollment cost pressure is unknown,
but potentially offset by system efficiencies.
COMMENTS : Background : While the rate of student transfer has
generally increased over the past 15 years, the transfer process
is widely regarded as complex, confusing, and inefficient.
Numerous entities have called for the streamlining of the
transfer process, including the LAO and the Institute for Higher
Education Leadership and Policy (IHELP). IHELP reports that 73%
of California undergraduates attend CCC; however, of the
1999-2000 student cohort who identified a degree as their goal,
only 25% transferred to a four-year institution within six
years. At the same time, recent studies indicate that
California must increase the number of residents with advanced
degrees in order to sustain its economic competitiveness. In
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2006-07, CCC transferred nearly 99,000 students to four-year
institutions: 54,391 to CSU, 14,000 to UC, 18,752 to California
private institutions, and 11,825 to out-of-state institutions.
Existing transfer pathways : CCC students who wish to transfer
to a UC or CSU campus typically take a set of general education
courses (about 40 units), courses related to their major
interest (6-8 units), and electives or local degree
requirements; together these constitute lower division
preparation. There are four primary transfer patterns that
students follow:
1)IGETC (general education) for students who wish to transfer to
the UC or CSU systems, although it is not necessarily accepted
by all UC campuses and all UC majors.
2)CSU Breadth (general education) for students who wish to
transfer to a CSU campus.
3)Lower Division Transfer Patterns (major preparation) for
students who are pursuing a specific major goal and wish to
transfer to a CSU campus.
4)UC's lower-division transfer curriculum that defines degree
paths for CCC students who wish to attend a UC campus based on
identified commonalities and differences in similar majors.
Specific CCC courses and sequences of courses are articulated
systemwide at UC when four or more UC campuses have already
articulated them for common requirements in similar majors.
Additionally, often CCCs have transfer agreements with their
local CSU or UC campuses. Transfer agreements work as contracts
between the student and the campus he or she wishes to attend by
guaranteeing admission if specific academic requirements are
met. In most cases, students must complete a certain number of
units before entering such an agreement. Each CSU campus
provides opportunity to enter into a transfer agreement to all
students that attend certain CCC campuses; UC campuses, however,
do not always have transfer agreements with each CCC, although
they do tend to have transfer agreements with their local CCCs.
Purpose of this Bill : According to the author, existing law
does not require alignment between CCC and CSU, required
coursework for transfer can vary widely from campus to campus,
and students can become confused, frustrated, and discouraged.
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This bill aims to increase the number of students who
successfully transfer from CCC districts to CSU by streamlining
the transfer process. Specifically, this bill requires CCC
districts to establish associate degrees for transfer,
guarantees associate degree for transfer students are admitted
to CSU with junior status, and establishes course unit limits on
most majors in order to reduce unnecessary, excess coursework.
Issues to consider: In reviewing this bill, the author and
committee should consider the following issues and
recommendations:
1)Encouraging coordination between CCC districts : This bill
provides CCC districts significant authority and flexibility
in establishing coursework requirements for the various majors
and areas of emphasis within associate degrees for transfer.
It is unclear to what degree the associate degrees for
transfer established under this bill will differ from the
transfer guarantees and articulation agreements that currently
exist between many CCC and CSU campuses. Additionally,
according to the CCC Chancellor's Office, between 1992 and
2007 17.2% of CCC students took courses at more than one CCC
district. This bill encourages, but does not require, CCC
districts to take into account existing transfer agreements
and to facilitate transferability of units between CCC
districts when establishing the associate degree for transfer.
The committee may wish to consider requiring the LAO to
report on the degree to which CCC districts meet these
outlined goals.
2)Existing transfer pathways : As noted above, there are a
number of agreements and efforts already in place to
facilitate transfer. This bill does not address the existing
transfer patterns and articulation agreements between CCC and
CSU campuses. Is the associate degree for transfer outlined
by this bill simply another transfer process that a student
can elect to follow, or does the associate degree for transfer
supersede the other transfer processes? Are associate degree
for transfer students intended to be prioritized in admissions
to CSU? Will associate degree for transfer students be
prioritized in admission to CSU over CCC students currently
following a transfer pathway? The committee may wish to
consider ensuring that associate degree for transfer students
are not prioritized over CCC students who have entered into a
transfer agreement between a CCC and CSU prior to the
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implementation of the associate degree for transfer.
3)Transfer guarantee - CSU Campus : This bill requires CSU
guarantee systemwide admission with junior status to any CCC
student meeting the associate degree for transfer
requirements. However, it does not guarantee the ability to
transfer into a specific campus. Many students do not have
the flexibility to relocate. Is an admission guarantee for a
Southern California student to a Northern California CSU
campus a meaningful guarantee? Should CSU be required to
provide priority enrollment consideration for associate degree
for transfer students at the CSU campus that serves the local
area surrounding their CCC?
4)Transfer guarantee - CSU Major : This bill provides associate
degree for transfer students priority admission to programs or
majors that are comparable to their CCC areas of emphasis, but
it is unclear as to over whom this priority admission will be
granted or what constitutes "comparable" majors. Committee
staff understands the author's intent is for associate degree
for transfer students to be prioritized over other CCC
transfer students, for the term "comparable" to be replaced
with "similar" and for "similar" majors to be determined on a
campus-by-campus basis at the CSU in which the student
enrolls. Committee staff suggests clarifying amendments
consistent with the author's stated intent.
5)Post-transfer requirements : As previously mentioned, CSU has
established common major preparation requirements for high
demand majors but can still require additional pre-major
courses that differ by campus. A CSU study found that
transfer students graduated with an average of 141 semester
units (120 units is usually needed to graduate). The excess
units resulted from course-taking actions at both CSU and CCC
with transfer students arriving at CSU with an average of 75
CCC units and graduating from CSU with an average of 76 units.
This bill would allow CSU to impose additional pre-major
requirements on associate degree for transfer students;
however, CSU would be prohibited from requiring associate
degree for transfer students from taking more than 60
additional semester or 90 quarter units at CSU, for majors
that require 120 semester/180 quarter units. This would
appear to allow the faculty at each CSU campus to require the
coursework that they believe is academically necessary in the
major while also ensuring that students do not continue to
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take excess units. Committee staff suggests an amendment to
clarify that CSU may only require additional courses at the
CSU. Additionally, the author has agreed to take amendments
requested by the California Faculty Association stating that
no CCC units may be counted toward upper-division coursework
requirements.
6)High unit majors : As noted above, this bill establishes a
limit on the number of units a CSU campus may require an
associate degree for transfer student to take upon transfer
for CSU majors requiring 120 semester or 180 quarter units.
High unit majors are exempt from this limit upon agreement by
CCC and CSU Chancellors and their academic senates. According
to CSU, of its 1,043 baccalaureate degree programs, 79%
require 120 units or less. The 21% that exceed 120 units are
in fields such as engineering, computing, clinical sciences,
journalism and the arts, as well as teacher preparation
programs that integrate both subject matter and professional
preparation. CSU reports that as of 2000-01, new programs in
these fields are subject to the 120 unit maximum, and
requirements above 120 must be justified.
7)LAO Report : This bill currently requires LAO to provide a
progress report to the Legislature during the spring 2012
budget committee hearings. This bill should be amended to
clarify that the LAO shall report to the Assembly Higher
Education Committee, the Senate Education Committee, and the
respective budget subcommittees during the spring of 2012.
Additionally, the author has proposed amendments to require
the LAO to examine the number of students who use the
associate degree for transfer and the number of units taken
and the time to degree under the associate degree for transfer
as compared to current transfer processes.
8)UC transfer students : This bill establishes a transfer
framework between CCC and CSU. According to CCC, of the
99,583 transfer students in 2008-09, approximately 14%
transferred to UC. Notwithstanding UC's constitutional
autonomy, if the transfer framework proposed in this bill is
successful, should it not apply to both of California's public
four-year systems? The Committee may wish to consider
requiring LAO to examine the feasibility of expanding the
provisions of this bill to UC.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
SB 1440
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Support
A Place Called Home
Advancement Project
Antelope Valley Community College District
Bay Area Council
California Business for Education Excellence
California Catholic Conference
California Chamber of Commerce
California Communities United Institute
California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
California Federation of Teachers
California Postsecondary Education Commission
California State Conference of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
California State University, Monterey Bay
California State University, Office of the Chancellor
California Teachers Association
Californians for Justice
Campaign for College Opportunity
Chaffey Community College District
Chicano Latino Intersegmental Convocation
Community College League of California
Councilmember Sergio Infanzon, City of Bell Gardens
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Families in Schools
Gay-Straight Alliance Network
Girls Incorporated of Orange County
Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District
Hispanas Organized for Political Equity
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
Hispanic Scholarship Fund
InnerCity Struggle
Kern Community College District
Latino Coalition for a Healthy California
Long Beach City College
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Unified School District
Mt. San Jacinto Community College District
National Council of La Raza
North Bay Leadership Council
Pierce College
Project GRAD Los Angeles
Public Advocates'
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Rio Hondo Community College District
San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation
San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership
Stanislaus County Office of Education
The Education Trust-West
University of Southern California
West Kern Community College District
Women's Foundation of California
Yosemite Community College District
Youth Policy Institute
Opposition
None on File
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960