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