BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 760
AUTHOR: Alquist
AMENDED: April 14, 2011
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: May 4, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez
SUBJECT : Student financial aid: The Cal Grant Program.
SUMMARY
This bill clarifies and defines the annual reporting
requirements, required under SB 70 (Chapter 7, 2011) for
all institutions that voluntarily choose to participate in
the Cal Grant program.
BACKGROUND
Current law specifies, under SB 70 -- the Education Budget
trailer bill (Chapter 7, Statutes of 2011), as a condition
for its voluntary participation in the Cal Grant program,
each Cal Grant participating institution shall provide the
California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) with enrollment,
persistence, and graduation data for all students and job
placement rate and salary data and wage information for
each program that is either (1) designed or advertised to
lead to a particular type of job; or (2) advertised or
promoted with any claim regarding job placement. (Education
Code § 69433.2)
Current law authorizes the Cal Grant Program, administered
by the CSAC, to provide grants to financially needy
students in order for them to attend college. These grants
are awarded in order to assist with the costs of a program
of study that result in the award of an associate or
baccalaureate degree or certificate requiring at least 24
semester units or the equivalent, or results in eligibility
for transfer from a community college to a baccalaureate
degree program.
(EC § 69430 et. seq.)
Current law provides that a "qualifying institution" for
SB 760
Page 2
purposes of participation in the Cal Grant Program, must be
one of the following (EC § 69432.7):
a) A California private or independent
postsecondary educational
institution that participates in the Pell Grant
program and at least two of the following:
i. Federal Work-Study.
ii. Perkins Loan Program.
iii. Supplemental Educational
Opportunity Grant Program.
a) A nonprofit institution headquartered and
operating in California
that:
i. Certifies to the CSAC that 10
percent of its operating budget, as
demonstrated in an audited financial
statement, is expended for institutionally
funded student financial aid in the form of
grants.
ii. Demonstrates the capacity to
administer the funds.
iii. Is accredited by the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges, or is
regionally accredited and was deemed
qualified to participate in the Cal Grant
Program by CSAC for the 2000-01 academic
year.
iv. Meets any other state-required
criteria adopted by regulation by the CSAC
in consultation with the Department of
Finance.
a) Any California public postsecondary
educational institution.
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Clarifies the enrollment, persistence and graduation
data, required as a condition for voluntary
participation in the Cal Grant program (included in SB
SB 760
Page 3
70), from each participating institution for each term
of the academic year immediately prior, for all
students in its undergraduate programs at each
California campus individually and in the aggregate as
follows:
a) Enrollment data, including enrollment
status, and whether the
student is a first-time student, continuing or
returning student, transfer student, or other
student.
b) Persistence data, including a student's
education level.
c) Graduation data, including whether a degree
or certificate was
conferred and on the on-time completion rate by
cohort based on date of initial enrollment and by
degree and certificate, for each California
campus and in the aggregate for all the
institution's campuses and locations.
2) Authorizes the California Student Aid Commission
(CSAC) to use data already available from other state
agencies in lieu of requiring institutions to report,
if the commission determines the data is sufficient
for meeting the requirements under #1 above.
3) Defines a "California campus" as each California
campus, additional location, site, or branch
identified on the institutional participation
agreement of the qualifying institution.
4) Defines "normal time" as the amount of time necessary
for a student to complete all requirements for a
degree or certificate according to the institution's
catalog.
5) Defines "on-time completion rate" as all of the
following:
a) The number of students attending a
California campus who completed the program
during the most recently completed award year.
SB 760
Page 4
b) The number of students who completed the
program within the normal time, as defined,
regardless of whether students transferred into
the program or changed programs at the
institution.
c) Dividing the number of students attending a
California campus that completed the program
within normal time by the total number of
students who completed the program and
multiplying the result by 100.
d) Requires institutions to calculate the
on-time completion rate for each California
campus individually and in the aggregate.
6) Defines "placement rate" as the placement rate for
students attending a California campus as determined
under a methodology developed by the National Center
for Education Statistics (NCES), when the rate is
available. If an NCES placement rate methodology has
not been specified then the methodology shall be the
methodology specified by the institution's accrediting
agency, as specified. If an accrediting agency does
not specify a methodology for the calculation of a
placement rate, then the CSAC shall specify the
methodology.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . Chapter 7, Statutes of 2011 (SB
70, the Education Budget Trailer Bill) began the
process of requiring the reporting of enrollment,
persistence, graduation, and job placement data of
institutions participating in the Cal Grant program.
This bill is intended to:
a) Clarify reporting requirements of SB 70;
b) Mitigate impact of the new data reporting
requirements (from
SB 70) on Cal Grant participating institutions by
aligning data elements as much as possible with
those already required for federal Title IV
financial aid eligibility;
SB 760
Page 5
c) Ensure public access to data about each
Cal Grant participating school's program
performance; and
d) Provide the Legislature with necessary
data as it considers future policy changes for
the Cal Grant program.
1) Some details to reporting information need further
refinement . SB 70 envisioned reporting of key data
elements beginning in 2012; this date is unduly vague
and does not provide ramp-up time for some campuses -
particularly community colleges that may need to begin
collection of the data prior to actual reporting.
Staff recommends an amendment to clarify this by
striking out, on page 9, line 13, strike "beginning in
2012, annually report to the commission for each term
of the academic year immediately prior" and insert
"beginning July 1, 2013, annually report to the
commission for the academic year immediately prior?"
In order to provide additional clarity about
California campus information required using an
institution's federal identification number would be
consistent with CSAC use of these identification
numbers under the Institutional Participation
Agreements for participation in the Cal Grant program,
therefore, staff recommends amendments as follows:
a) On page 5, line 40, strike out "individually
and in the aggregate" and insert: "identified
under the same six-digit federal Office of
Postsecondary Education identification number;"
b) On page 9, line 17, strike out "individually
and in the aggregate" and insert: "identified
under the same six-digit federal Office of
Postsecondary Education identification number;"
c) On page 9, line 25, after "campus" insert:
"identified under the same six-digit federal
Office of Postsecondary Education identification
number;" and
d) On page 9, line 33, strike out
"individually" and insert: "identified under the
SB 760
Page 6
same six-digit Office of Postsecondary Education
identification number."
To its credit SB 760 acknowledges that there may be
instances where data may already be available from
other state agencies in lieu of requiring institutions
to report if the commission determines that the data
is sufficient for meeting the requirements of the
measure. Consistent with this approach, staff
recommends an amendment on page 9, line 38 to also
include "federal" agencies. This change can assist in
limiting data collection to institutions and the CSAC,
and minimize the volume of possible redundant
reporting of the same information.
Finally, staff recommends a technical amendment on
page 5, lines 35 and 37, strike out "(m)" and insert:
(n).
2) Federal regulations generally take effect July 1,
2012 . Regulations for institutional participation in
various federal financial aid programs, including the
federal Pell Grant program, have been promulgated and
will take effect July 1, 2012. Many of the
definitions described in SB 760 are taken from the
federal registry of regulations and are intended to
align California's Cal Grant program with federal
definitions.
3) Proposed budget cuts to Cal Grant program . As part of
the 2011 Budget, the Legislature recently approved
$124 million in cuts to the Cal Grant program by
requiring the CSAC to annually verify income and asset
levels of renewals and by making institutions with
specified student default rates ineligible to
participate in Cal Grant programs. And also specifies,
as a condition for its voluntary participation in the
Cal Grant program, each Cal Grant participating
institution shall provide the CSAC with specified
information, as outlined in the Background described
above.
SUPPORT
None on file.
SB 760
Page 7
OPPOSITION
None on file.