AB 330, as introduced, Chau. Student financial aid: disclosures.
Existing law establishes the Cal Grant Program under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under the program for participating students attending qualifying institutions. As a condition for participation in the program, existing law requires each Cal Grant participating institution to annually report specified information to the commission, which the commission is required to provide on its Internet Web site in a searchable database.
This bill would include the institution’s net price calculator and the average student loan debt of graduates of the institution in the information that a participating institution is required to report and the commission is required to provide on its Internet Web site. The bill would also require the commission to include a glossary explaining the meanings of various financial aid terms on its Internet Web site.
Existing law, the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009, provides, among other things, for student protections and regulatory oversight of private postsecondary schools in the state. The act is enforced by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act exempts specified institutions from all, or a portion of, its provisions. The act requires an institution to provide a prospective student prior to enrollment with a School Performance Fact Sheet, which is required to contain specified information relating to the educational program.
This bill would require the School Performance Fact Sheet to also include the institution’s net price calculator and the average student loan debt of graduates of the institution if the institution receives specified federal funding.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 69433.2 of the Education Code is
2amended to read:
(a) As a condition for its voluntary participation in
4the Cal Grant Program, each Cal Grant participating institution
5shall, beginning in 2012, annually report to the commission, and
6as further specified in the institutional participation agreement,
7begin delete bothend deletebegin insert allend insert of the following for its undergraduate programs:
8(1) Enrollment, persistence, and graduation data for all students,
9including aggregate information on Cal Grant recipients.
10(2) The job placement rate and salary and wage information for
11each program that is
either designed or advertised to lead to a
12particular type of job or advertised or promoted with a claim
13regarding job placement.
14(3) The institution’s net price calculator required pursuant to
15Section 1015a(h)(3) of Title 20 of the United States Code.
16(4) The average student loan debt of graduates of the institution.
end insert
17(b) Commencing the year after the commission begins to receive
18reports pursuant to subdivision (a), the commission shall provide
19begin delete bothend deletebegin insert
allend insert of the following on its Internet Web site:
20(1) The information submitted by a Cal Grant participating
21institution pursuant to subdivision (a), which shall be made
22available in a searchable database.
23(2) A glossary explaining the meanings of various financial aid
24terms, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
25(A) Private student loan.
end insertbegin insert26(B) Federal direct loan.
end insertbegin insert27(C) Grant.
end insertbegin insert28(D) Scholarship.
end insertP3 1(2)
end delete
2begin insert(3)end insert Other information and links that are useful to students and
3parents who are in the process of selecting a college or university.
4This information may include, but not be limited to, local
5occupational profiles available through the Employment
6Development Department’s Labor Market Information Data
7Library.
Section 94910 of the Education Code is amended to
9read:
Prior to enrollment, an institution shall provide a
11prospective student with a School Performance Fact Sheet
12containing, at a minimum, the following information, as it relates
13to the educational program:
14(a) Completion rates, as calculated pursuant to Article 16
15(commencing with Section 94928).
16(b) Placement rates for each educational program, as calculated
17pursuant to Article 16 (commencing with Section 94928), if the
18educational program is designed to lead to, or the institution makes
19any express or implied claim related to preparing students for, a
20recognized career, occupation, vocation, job, or job title.
21(c) License examination passage rates for programs
leading to
22employment for which passage of a state licensing examination is
23required, as calculated pursuant to Article 16 (commencing with
24Section 94928).
25(d) Salary or wage information, as calculated pursuant to Article
2616 (commencing with Section 94928).
27(e) The institution’s net price calculator if the institution is
28required to provide one pursuant to Section 1015a(h)(3) of Title
2920 of the United States Code.
30(f) The average student loan debt of graduates of the institution,
31if the institution receives funding pursuant
to Title IV of the federal
32Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1070
33et seq.).
34(e)
end delete
35begin insert(g)end insert If a program is too new to provide data for any of the
36categories listed in this subdivision, the institution shall state on
37its fact sheet: “This program is new. Therefore, the number of
38students who graduate, the number of students who are placed, or
39the starting salary you can earn after finishing the educational
40program are unknown at this time. Information regarding general
P4 1salary and placement statistics may be available from government
2sources or from the institution, but is not equivalent to actual
3performance data.”
4(f)
end delete5begin insert(h)end insert All of the following:
6(1) A description of the manner in which the figures described
7in subdivisions (a) tobegin delete (d)end deletebegin insert (f)end insert, inclusive, are calculated or a statement
8informing the reader of where he or she may obtain a description
9of the manner in which the figures described in subdivisions (a)
10tobegin delete (d)end deletebegin insert (f)end insert, inclusive, are calculated.
11(2) A
statement informing the reader of where he or she may
12obtain from the institution a list of the employment positions
13determined to be within the field for which a student received
14education and training for the calculation of job placement rates
15as required by subdivision (b).
16(3) A statement informing the reader of where he or she may
17obtain from the institution a list of the objective sources of
18information used to substantiate the salary disclosure as required
19by subdivision (d).
20(g)
end delete21begin insert(i)end insert The following statements:
22(1) “This fact sheet is filed
with the Bureau for Private
23Postsecondary Education. Regardless of any information you may
24have relating to completion rates, placement rates, starting salaries,
25or license exam passage rates, this fact sheet contains the
26information as calculated pursuant to state law.”
27(2) “Any questions a student may have regarding this fact sheet
28that have not been satisfactorily answered by the institution may
29be directed to the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education at
30(address), Sacramento, CA (ZIP Code), (Internet Web site address),
31(telephone and fax numbers).”
32(h)
end delete
33begin insert(j)end insert If the institution participates in federal financial aid programs,
34the most recent three-year cohort
default rate reported by the United
35States Department of Education for the institution and the
36percentage of enrolled students receiving federal student loans.
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