BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                    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.


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           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  

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            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  

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               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  

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               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  

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            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

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