BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 386| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 386 Author: Levine (D) Amended: 9/3/13 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 7/3/13 AYES: Liu, Wyland, Block, Correa, Hancock, Hueso, Huff, Monning, Torres SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/30/13 AYES: De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/30/13 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : California State University online education SOURCE : Author DIGEST : 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 (Trustees) to establish an easily accessible online database of these courses by January 1, 2015; 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; and on or before January 1, 2017, requires the Trustees to report the performance data to the Legislative Analyst, as specified. CONTINUED AB 386 Page 2 ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Authorizes a student enrolled in any campus of the California Community Colleges (CCC), CSU, or the University of California (UC) 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. 2.Provides that a student enrolled in any campus of the CCC, CSU, or UC may cross-enroll if they meet the following requirements: A. The student completed at least one term at the home campus as a matriculated student and is taking at least six units at the home campus during the current term. B. The student has attained a 2.0 grade point average. C. The student has paid appropriate tuition and/or fees required by the home campus for that academic term. D. 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. 1.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. 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 CONTINUED AB 386 Page 3 fees, in a course provided entirely online by another 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. 1.Requires each CSU campus inform students who may enroll in an online course all of the following: A. The technical requirements a student must satisfy in order to successfully participate in, and complete, the online course. B. Any prerequisite courses or other academic preparation deemed necessary for the online course. C. Any materials, skills, knowledge, or other elements necessary to ensure a student's opportunity to succeed in the online course. 1.Establishes the following requirements and authorities for cross enrollment in online courses at the CSU: A. Authorizes nonresident and international CSU students who meet the outlined conditions 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 CONTINUED AB 386 Page 4 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 CSU campuses that provides a streamlined method of finding and enrolling in 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. 1.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 CONTINUED AB 386 Page 5 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. D. Requires, on or before October 1, 2017, 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. 1.Requires 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. 2.Defines various terms for purposes of this bill. 3.Makes a number of related findings and declarations. 4.Requires CSU to use monies appropriated in the Budget Act of 2013, as specified, for one-time startup costs. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: Cross-enrollment system: The CSU estimates that establishing a cross-enrollment system that meets the requirements of this bill will cost $1,090,000 over two years. Annual operational costs will be approximately $250,000, primarily to maintain the course database, enrollment system, and transcript integration (for grading). Authority to cross-enroll: Once the system is established, the authority for students to cross-enroll is unlikely to result in significant costs to the CSU. Individual campuses CONTINUED AB 386 Page 6 will have the authority to charge registration fees to students who cross-enroll which should mitigate any administrative costs. LAO report: Potentially significant workload to produce two required reports. SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/13) California State Student Association California State University California State University Academic Senate The Bay Area Council ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, 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 CSU campuses. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/30/13 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Holden, Vacancy PQ:ej 9/3/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE CONTINUED AB 386 Page 7 **** END **** CONTINUED