Amended in Senate September 3, 2013

Amended in Senate July 10, 2013

Amended in Assembly May 28, 2013

Amended in Assembly April 30, 2013

Amended in Assembly April 15, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 386

Introduced by Assembly Member Levine

February 15, 2013

An act to add Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 89225) to Chapter 2 of Part 55 of Division 8 of, and to add Chapter 9.6 (commencing with Section 66760) to Part 40 of Division 5 of, Title 3 of the Education Code, relating to public postsecondary education.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 386, as amended, Levine. Public postsecondary education: cross-enrollment: online education at the California State University.

Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law authorizes any student enrolled in any campus of any of these 3 respective segments who meets prescribed requirements to enroll without formal admission or payment of additional fees, except as provided, in a maximum of one course per academic term at a campus of either of the other segments on a space-available basis at the discretion of the appropriate campus authorities on both campuses.

This bill would express legislative intent that, by the beginning of the 2015-16 academic year, students enrolled at a California State University (CSU) campus be provided an opportunity to enroll in online courses available at other CSU campuses. The bill would authorize any student enrolled at a begin insert CSU end insert campus begin delete of the California State University end delete who meets specified requirements to enroll, without formal admission, and without payment of additional tuition or fees, except as provided, in a course provided entirely online, as defined, by another begin insert CSU end insert campus begin delete of the California State University end delete on a space-available basis. The bill would require each CSU campus to inform students who may enroll in an online course pursuant to this authority of certain information related to the online course. The bill would require the trustees, on or before January 1, 2015, to establish an easily accessible online database of online courses available at all CSU campuses to provide CSU students with a streamlined process within the CSU system to allow them to find and enroll in courses that will earn them credit toward graduation, general education, and major requirements.

This bill would require the trustees to establish a series of uniform definitions for online education for CSU on or before January 1, 2015, as specified. The bill would require the trustees to report performance data about online education to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2017, and every 2 years until 2021, and would, on or before January 1, 2017, require the trustees to report the performance data to the Legislative Analyst. The bill would, on or before October 1, 2017, require the Legislative Analyst to submit to the Legislature a status update regarding CSU’s implementation of the provisions of this bill and an assessment of the extent to which CSU’s online programs are operating in a manner consistent with legislative intent and statutory requirements.

This bill would require the trustees to report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2015, on the feasibility of developing an accelerated bachelor’s degree completion program consisting of online courses aimed at students who started college but never obtained a degree.

begin insert

This bill would require the California State University to use specified moneys appropriated in the Budget Act of 2013 for one-time startup costs related to the provisions added by the bill.

end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

It is the intent of the Legislature:

(a) That, by the beginning of the 2015-16 academic year,
students enrolled at a California State University (CSU) campus
shall be provided the opportunity to enroll in online courses
available at other CSU campuses. Students enrolling in online
courses at a campus other than their home campus shall be provided
a streamlined process of transferring units for credit at the home
campus.

(b) That the 23 campuses of the begin delete California State University end delete begin insert CSU end insert
system coordinate their online course offerings in order to provide
students improved access to coursework and the opportunity to
accelerate their degree completion.

(c) To foster greater coordination among all segments of higher
education in the state, in order to improve student outcomes.

(d) That, in addition to begin delete intrasystem end delete begin insert intersystem end insert coordination,
the segments of higher education shall take all steps possible to
improve coordination within their respective segments.

(e) That the segments of higher education appropriately allocate
available resources to accomplish the above-stated goals.

(f) That the segments of higher education appropriately use
existing online education resources to accomplish the above-stated
goals.

SEC. 2.  

Chapter 9.6 (commencing with Section 66760) is added
to Part 40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read:

 

Chapter  9.6. Cross-Enrollment in Online Education at
California State University

 

66760.  

For the purposes of this chapter, the following
definitions apply:

(a) “Chancellor” means the Chancellor of the California State
University.

(b) “CSU” means the California State University.

(c) “Home campus” means the California State University
campus at which the student begin delete is matriculated. end delete begin insert matriculates. end insert

(d) “Host campus” means the campus to which the student seeks
access.

66760.5.  

By the beginning of the 2015-16 academic year, a
California resident enrolled at a CSU campus who meets the
requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 66761 may enroll,
without formal admission, and without payment of additional
tuition or fees, except as provided in Section 66761.5, in a course
provided entirely online by another begin insert CSU end insert campus begin delete of the California
State University end delete on a space-available basis. Nonresident and
international CSU students who meet these conditions may also
enroll in an online course provided by another CSU campus, but
shall pay the per unit fees for this course at the host campus.

66761.  

(a) A student is qualified to participate in the program
established by this chapter if he or she is enrolled at a CSU campus
and meets the following requirements:

(1) The student has attained a grade point average of 2.0 on a
4-point scale for work completed.

(2) The student has paid appropriate tuition or fees, or both,
required by the home campus for full-time enrollment for the
academic term in which the student seeks to cross-enroll.

(3) The student has no outstanding tuition or fees to be paid at
the home campus.

(b) Each CSU campus shall inform students who may enroll in
an online course pursuant to this chapter of all of the following:

(1) The technical requirements a student must satisfy in order
to successfully participate in, and complete, the online course.

(2) Any prerequisite courses or other academic preparation
deemed necessary for the online course.

(3) Any materials, skills, knowledge, or other elements necessary
to ensure a student’s opportunity to succeed in the online course.

66761.5.  

The host campus may charge participating students
a reasonable administration fee and specific course-based fees, not
to exceed an amount sufficient for the campus to recover reasonable
administrative costs it incurs pursuant to this chapter.

66762.  

The chancellor’s office shall establish a convenient
online methodology so that students meeting the requirements of
subdivision (a) of Section 66761 may do both of the following:

(a) Be informed of the opportunity to access courses provided
entirely online by another begin delete campus of the California State
University. end delete begin insert CSU campus. end insert

(b) Simultaneously enroll in courses at their home campus and
enroll in courses provided entirely online at another begin delete campus of the
California State University, end delete begin insert CSU campus, end insert as provided for in
Section 66762.5.

66762.5.  

A matriculated CSU student shall have priority access
to online courses provided at his or her home campus. A CSU
student who meets the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section
66761, and seeks to enroll in courses provided entirely online by
another CSU campus, shall be able to enroll, provided that
cross-enrollment students generally have an opportunity to enroll
in these online courses at any time after the priority enrollment
period for continuing students begin insert , end insert as determined by each host campus.
The host campus enrollment policy shall, to the extent possible,
encourage cross-enrollment as provided for in this chapter.

66763.  

A course provided entirely online pursuant to this
chapter shall be accepted for credit at the student’s home campus
on the same basis as it would be for a student matriculated at the
host campus.

66763.5.  

The enrollment of a student at a host campus pursuant
to this chapter may be counted in the calculation of headcount or
full-time equivalent student enrollment at the host campus. The
home campus and the host campus at which the student is
cross-enrolled may count in the calculation of headcount or
full-time equivalent student enrollment only those units for which
the student is enrolled at each respective campus.

66764.  

On or before January 1, 2015, the trustees shall establish
both of the following:

(a) An easily accessible online database of online courses
available at all CSU campuses. This database shall provide CSU
students with a streamlined process within the CSU system to
allow students to find and enroll in courses that will earn them
credit toward graduation, general education, and major
requirements.

(b) Plans for an intrasystem cross-enrollment process to expedite
student learning that will be operational at the beginning of the
2015-16 academic year.

SEC. 3.  

Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 89225) is added
to Chapter 2 of Part 55 of Division 8 of Title 3 of the Education
Code, to read:

 

Article 3.5.  Online Education

 

89225.  

On or before January 1, 2015, for begin delete the end delete purposes of
measuring the effectiveness of online education, the trustees shall
establish a series of uniform definitions for online education. The
definitions developed by the trustees under this section shall, at a
minimum, include a systemwide definition for an online course
where the course can be entirely completed remotely.

89226.  

(a) On or before January 1, 2017, and on or before
January 1 every two years thereafter, the trustees shall report to
the Legislature key performance data on online courses as defined
in Section 89225, including, but not necessarily limited to, all of
the following:

(1) The number of students enrolled at each campus.

(2) Course completion rates for courses other than online
courses.

(3) Completion rates for degree programs that include no online
courses.

(4) Grade point average for students enrolled in online courses.

(5) The number of students cross-enrolled in online courses at
a California State University campus other than the campus at
which they are matriculated.

(6) Course completion rates for students enrolled in online
courses.

(7) Completion rates for degree programs that include online
courses.

(b) (1) On or before January 1, 2017, the trustees shall report
to the Legislative Analyst the key performance data described in
subdivision (a).

(2) On or before October 1, 2017, the Legislative Analyst shall
submit a status update begin insert to the Legislature end insert regarding the California
State University’s implementation of the provisions of the bill that
added this section and an assessment of the extent to which the
online programs of the California State University are operating
in a manner consistent with legislative intent and statutory
requirements.

(c) Student enrollment and completion rate data included in a
report to be submitted pursuant to this section shall be made
available by demographics, including age, gender, and ethnicity.

(d) (1) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under
subdivision (a) is inoperative on July 1, 2021, pursuant to Section
10231.5 of the Government Code.

(2) The report prepared pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
Code.

SEC. 4.  

On or before January 1, 2015, the Trustees of the
California State University shall report to the Legislature on the
feasibility of developing an accelerated bachelor’s degree
completion program consisting of online courses aimed at students
who started college but never obtained a degree. The report
prepared pursuant to this section shall be submitted in compliance
with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 5. end insert   

end insert

begin insert The California State University shall use moneys
appropriated in Item 6610-001-0001 of Section 2.00 of the Budget
Act of 2013 (Chapter 20 of the Statutes of 2013) for one-time
startup costs related to Sections 2 and 3 of this bill. end insert