BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 386
AUTHOR: Levine
AMENDED: May 28, 2013
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: July 3, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : California State University online education.
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes any California State University (CSU)
student enrolled at a CSU campus, who meets specified
requirements, to enroll in an online course provided by
another CSU campus, requires the CSU Trustees to establish
an easily accessible online database of these courses by
January 1, 2015, and requires the Trustees to report key
performance data on online courses, as specified, to the
Legislature by January 1, 2017, and every two years
thereafter.
BACKGROUND
Current law authorizes a student enrolled in any campus of
the California Community Colleges (CCC), California State
University, or the University of California to who meets
specified requirements to enroll, without formal admission
and payment of additional fees, in a maximum of one course
per academic term at a campus of either of the other
systems on a space available basis, as specified.
(Education Code § 66751)
Current law provides that a student enrolled in any campus
of the CCC, CSU, or UC may cross-enroll if they meet the
following requirements:
1) The student completed at least one term at the home
campus as a matriculated student and is taking at
least 6 units at the home campus during the current
term.
2) The student has attained a 2.0 grade point average.
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3) The student has paid appropriate tuition and/or
fees required by the home campus for that academic
term.
4) The student has the appropriate academic
preparation for the course, as determined by the host
campus, consistent with the standard applied to
currently enrolled students. (EC § 66752)
Current law prohibits the host campus from counting the
cross-enrolled student in the calculation of its headcount
or full-time equivalent student enrollment. The home campus
is authorized to count these students in its calculation of
headcount or full-time equivalent student enrollment only
for those units in which the student is enrolled at the
home campus. (EC § 66753.5)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Authorizes, by the beginning of the 2015-16 academic
year, a student who meets specified requirements to
enroll, without formal admission and without paying
additional tuition and fees, in a course provided
entirely online by another California State University
(CSU) campus on a space-available basis.
2) Requires a student to meet the following requirements
for enrollment:
a) Be enrolled at a CSU campus.
b) Attain a 2.0 GPA.
c) Pay appropriate tuition and/or
fees for full time enrollment for the academic
term in which they intend to enroll.
d) Have no outstanding tuition/fees
to be paid at the home campus.
3) Establishes the following requirements and authorities
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for cross enrollment in online courses at the CSU:
a) Authorizes nonresident and
international CSU students who meet the
conditions outlined in #2 to cross-enroll, but
requires that these students pay the per unit
fees for the course at the host campus.
b) Authorizes a host campus to charge
participating students a reasonable
administration fee and specific course-based
fees, as specified.
c) Requires the Chancellor's office
to establish an online methodology to allow
students to be informed of the online
cross-enrollment option and to simultaneously
enroll in both home and host campuses.
d) Requires a matriculated CSU
student to have priority access to, and
enrollment opportunity in, online courses at
his/her home campus, while requiring host
campuses to adopt a campus enrollment policy that
encourages cross-enrollment.
e) Requires that the course be
accepted for credit at the home campus on the
same basis as that for a matriculated student at
the host campus.
f) Authorizes the host campus to
count cross-enrolled students in the calculation
of headcount or full-time equivalent student
enrollment at the host campus, but limits both
the home and host campus to counting a
cross-enrolled student only for those units in
which the student is enrolled at each respective
campus.
g) Requires the Trustees to establish
an easily accessible online database of online
courses available at all California State
University (CSU) campuses that provides a
streamlined method of finding and enrolling in
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courses that lead toward graduation, general
education and major requirements, as well as plan
for a 2015-16 operational intrasystem
cross-enrollment process by January 1, 2015.
4) Establishes the following reporting related
requirements for measuring the effectiveness of online
education at the CSU:
a) Requires the Trustees to establish
a series of uniform definitions for online
education, as specified, by January 1, 2015.
b) Requires the Trustees to report
key performance data on online courses (to be
made available by demographics, including age,
gender, and ethnicity) to the Legislature, to
include, but not be limited to the number of
students enrolled at each campus, course
completion rates for both online courses and
other than online courses, completion rates for
degree programs that include online courses and
those that do not, the grade point average for
students enrolled in online courses, and the
number of students cross-enrolled in online
courses at a CSU campus other than the campus at
which they are matriculated, by January 1, 2017,
and on or before January 1 every two years
thereafter.
c) Deletes these reporting
requirements on July 1, 2021.
5) Requires the CSU 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.
6) Defines various terms for purposes of the bill.
7) Makes a number of related findings and declarations.
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STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, while the
CSU does permit students to concurrently enroll in
courses at campuses other than their home campus, the
option is severely underutilized. The CSU reports that
each campus currently provides its students with an
online registration portal allowing students to easily
enroll in courses provided at their home campus. Each
portal currently operates as an isolated entity,
however, and does not provide students the ability to
seek and enroll in online courses provided at other
California State University (CSU) campuses.
2) Language based on cross enrollment in regular
classrooms . The provisions of this bill parallel the
current statutes governing cross-enrollment across the
public postsecondary education system. The
requirements that are to be met by students for
enrollment in online courses are essentially the same
as those for regular courses. But are these courses
the same?
According to a study by the Columbia University
College Research Center, "Adaptability Online
Learning: Differences Across Types of Students and
Academic Subject Areas", all students who take more
online courses, no matter the demographic, are less
likely to attain a degree, and some groups, including
black, male, younger and lower grade-point-average
students are particularly susceptible to this pattern.
The study was based on a dataset of nearly 500,000
courses taken by over 40,000 community and technical
college students in Washington State in fall 2004.
According to the researchers, their findings support
the notion that students are not homogenous in their
adaptability to the online delivery format and may
have substantially different outcomes for online
learning, and that these patterns suggest that
performance gaps between key demographic groups
already observed in face-to-face settings are
exacerbated in online courses.
Online education is one of many strategies possible
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for successfully meeting the increasing demand for
higher education opportunity in California. Is online
education the objective or is it simply a tool? Recent
policy discussion around our public institutions has
acknowledged that while California has traditionally
been committed to access, we have not always ensured
student success. Should the criteria for online cross
enrollment be the same for regular cross enrollment
courses? Can we expect students that meet these
criteria to successfully complete these courses?
Staff recommends the bill be amended to additionally
require that each campus of the CSU inform potential
students of the technical requirements a student must
satisfy in order to successfully participate in and
complete the online courses, the necessary academic
preparation for the online course, and to inform
students of any other necessary elements to ensure
their success in an online course.
3) Need for an independent analysis/evaluation . This bill
currently requires the CSU to report specified
information on online courses to the Legislature.
However, an independent analysis and evaluation may be
a better way of assessing the CSU's progress in making
online cross enrollment opportunities available to
matriculated students as well as the effectiveness of
this strategy for increasing persistence, completion
and graduation rates.
Staff recommends the bill be amended to require the
CSU to report the key performance data to the
Legislative Analyst by January 1, 2017 and to require
the Legislative Analyst Office to provide a status
update on CSU's implementation of the bill's
provisions and an assessment of the extent to which
CSU's online programs are operating in a manner
consistent with legislative intent and requirements by
October 2017.
4) Related budget action . The Governor's 2013-14 proposed
budget included funding to expand the delivery of
higher education courses through the use of
technology. The proposal provided a $16.9 million
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augmentation to the community colleges and a set aside
of $10 million each in the University of California
(UC) and California State University (CSU) budget to
increase the number of online courses available to
matriculated undergraduates, specifically those
courses that have the highest demand, fill quickly,
and are prerequisites for many different degrees. The
proposal also stipulated that courses must be aimed at
advanced students who are likely to succeed in these
types of courses.
The Budget Act (AB 110, Chapter 20, Budget Act of
2013) was signed by the Governor on June 27, 2013.
However, while the Governor included the $20 million
he had allocated for purposes of expanding online
courses at the UC and CSU, the final budget deleted
the requirement that these funds be expended for
online courses. The Governor cited concerns that the
requirements to expend funds for this purpose would
create cost pressures and unnecessary restrictions and
that elimination of these earmarks would give both the
UC and the CSU greater flexibility to manage resources
to meet obligations, operate instructional programs
more effectively, and avoid tuition and fee increases.
Staff notes that the provisions deleted by the
Governor closely parallel the provisions of this bill.
5) Similar legislation . Several bills addressing
postsecondary online education were introduced this
session. These include:
a) SB 520 (Steinberg) creates an incentive
grant program to assist faculty and individual
campuses of the UC and the CSU and the CCC to
provide increased opportunities for students to
take online courses. SB 520 is currently awaiting
action in Assembly Higher Education.
b) SB 547 (Block) requires the academic senates
of the UC, the CSU, and the California Community
Colleges to jointly develop and identify online
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courses available for enrollment by matriculated
students at each of the three segments by fall of
2014. SB 547 was heard and passed by this
committee by a vote of 9-0 in April 2013, but was
subsequently held under submission in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
c) AB 387 (Levine) requires the California
State University (CSU) to report performance data
for students taking online courses. AB 387 was
held under submission in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee, but some of its
provisions were incorporated into
AB 386, which is before the committee today.
d) AB 895 (Rendon) establishes the California
Postsecondary Online Education Task Force to
evaluate and collect data on the current status
of postsecondary online education. AB 895 was
held under submission in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
e) AB 944 (Nestande) requires the Trustees of
the CSU and the Board of Governors of the
California Community Colleges, and requests the
Regents of the University of California, to
report to the Legislature, by January 1, 2016,
and every two years thereafter, on workload and
key performance data on distance learning
courses. AB 944 was held under submission in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
California State University
OPPOSITION
None on file.