BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1781
AUTHOR: Linder
AMENDED: May 23, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 4, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez
SUBJECT : California National Guard Education Assistance
Award Program.
SUMMARY
This bill permits a person who receives a California
National Guard (CNG) Education Assistance Award Program
(EAAP) grant to use the grant in summer sessions or
intersessions.
BACKGROUND
Current law establishes the CNG EAAP to enhance retention
within the CNG by providing grant awards to obtain a
certificate, degree, or diploma and sets specific
conditions of eligibility for participation in the program,
including, but not limited to the following:
a) The person is a resident of California, as
specified in current law;
b) The person is an active member of, and has served
two years in, the CNG, the State Military Reserve
(SMR), or the Naval Militia;
c) The person has been accepted or registered at,
enrolled in, a qualifying institution, as specified in
current law;
d) The person agrees to use the award to obtain a
certificate, degree, or diploma that he or she does
not hold at the time they apply for an award, and
enrolls as specified;
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e) The person has submitted the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to the U. S. Department of
Education.
Current law specifies that the academic terms specifies
that the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) is
responsible for issuing the awards upon receipt of a
certificate from the Adjutant General verifying that the
applicant meets the eligibility requirements and requires
CSAC to report annually to the Legislature regarding the
EAAP participants, as specified. And further specifies
that qualifying members shall not receive both a CNG EAAP
and any Cal Grant award in the same academic year and
specifies the amount of an award generally consistent with
the Cal Grant program, as specified.
Tasks the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), on or before
January 1, 2016, to prepare and submit to the Legislature a
report on the CNG EAAP, including recommendations for
modifying or extending the CNG EAAP; and, specifies that
the CNG EAAP, as of July 1, 2019, shall become inoperative,
and on
January 1, 2020, is repealed. (Education Code § 69999.16,
et seq.).
ANALYSIS
This bill permits a person who receives a California
National Guard (CNG) Education Assistance Award Program
(EAAP) grant to use the grant in summer sessions or
intersessions. In addition, the bill:
1) Finds and declares the CNG EAAP is a highly effective
student-soldier assistance program emphasizing
certification, program, and degree completion. And
those student-soldiers are strongly encouraged to seek
available academic advising services to create their
academic schedule and program with the goal of working
towards a certificate or degree.
2) State legislative intent to build upon the success of
the CNG EAAP by providing student-soldiers more
flexibility in achieving their academic goals.
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STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author's office
because summer and intersession terms are not part of
the EAAP eligibility formula, student-soldiers don't
have the flexibility to take courses on their own
schedule if they happen to have a free summer, extra
time in winter, or if they have some sort of hardship
keeping them from enrolling during the traditional
spring and fall semester/quarters. The CNG students
will not be allocated any more money than they are
now, instead they will simply be able to extend
whatever EAAP money they currently receive to
intersession and summer school terms, if they chose
to.
2) The purpose of the CNG EAAP is a recruitment and
retention via educational attainment . This measure,
by allowing the use of CNG EAAP awards for summer
sessions from an educational attainment perspective is
admirable; however, the program is a recruitment and
retention tool, not a traditional grant program based
mainly on income level of grantees. The current CNG
EAAP balances the desire, understandably, of
educational attainment in a timely and affordable
manner, by providing access to education during the
majority of a fiscal year, but it also must be weighed
against maintaining the requirements that come with
commitment to serve in the CNG. Permitting the use of
CNG EAAP awards during summer sessions generally
conflicts with a service member's military commitment
to the California National Guard, as most service
members must typically perform their mandatory annual
training period during the summer months. The program
is an inducement for maintaining required strength of
the CNG - clearly with intent to retain the most
qualified and experienced CNG members. Generally, a
service member has ample time for planning their
academic courses and not run into conflict with annual
and periodic training requirements of the CNG.
However, conflicts can occur and a blanket allowance
to attend summer sessions calls into question the
underlying priorities of service member's commitment
when joining the CNG.
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3) Other unintended consequences . According to the
California Military Department a larger portion of CNG
EAAP funds may be lost for reversion to the General
Fund at the end of the academic year, if funds for
summer sessions are encumbered but not used; mainly as
a result, of practical considerations. First,
colleges, universities, and for-profit schools usually
have to be contacted multiple times before they
provide enrollment information for any academic term
thereby delaying critical information about CNG
members and their uses of EAAP funding. Second, CNG
members do not always inform program coordinators that
they will not be attending a particular term this in
turn limits the CNG from being able to "reallocate"
funds to other qualifying members in a timely manner -
colleges, universities, and for-profit schools
sometimes neglect to report that is student is not
enrolled even when they request payment for the
student. Finally, by the time these students are
reported as "not enrolled," it is too late for the
program to accept new applicants. The department is
concerned that the option of attending in summer or
intersessions will exacerbate the situations described
above.
In addition, it could be argued that allowing for
funding of intersessions - which generally are highly
concentrated very short-term courses that typically do
not exceed two or three weeks - could (1) negatively
impact the total award eligibility period (i.e., up to
four years of full-time equivalent enrollment) an
eligible CNG member has, because intersessions will
count against the member's eligibility period without
fruitful completion toward an academic goal, and (2)
intersessions terms do not typically incorporate the
high value courses that most students need to graduate
within their desired educational program.
It is understandable that students may desire to
complete their education goals in an expedient manner;
however it is important to (1) keep in mind the
purpose of the program and the needs of the CNG as a
whole, (2) ensure that students have the funds they
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need to actually complete their desired program and
that any unused funds within a given fiscal year can
get reallocated to other qualifying persons within the
CNG, and (3) try to achieve workable efficiencies of
educational attainment where possible.
Therefore, staff recommends amendments to be refined
with Legislative Counsel, as follows:
a) On page 2, strike Section 1, findings and
declarations - an LAO report is due in January 1,
2016, the report will look at the CNG EAAP with
recommendations for modification or extension; an
evaluation of program effectiveness need to occur
- to date there is no clear information cohort
completion or program effectiveness.
b) On page 2, lines 35 and 36 strike ", or
per summer session or intersession term"
c) On page 2, line 36, after the period
insert:
(A) Persons enrolled in an institution or program
with a mandatory summer session may receive an
award to cover the academic term.
(B) To be eligible to use the award for summer
session, the person must submit a letter from
their unit commander verifying that the person's
enrollment in summer session will not adversely
impact the person's attendance at mandatory
military training.
1) Background. The CNG EAAP, which went into effect on
January 1, 2010, is a State-funded grant for up to
1,000 eligible service members in the California
National Guard, State Military Reserve, or the Naval
Militia. Participants can receive up to the amount of
the Cal Grant A award for attending the University of
California (UC) or the California State University
(CSU), up to the Cal Grant B award for attending a
community college, or up to the UC Cal Grant A amount
for attending a non-public institution. CNG EAAP
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graduate school students may receive an additional
$500.00 for books and supplies.
In order to qualify for an award an applicant must
agree, in part, to obtain a certificate, degree, or
diploma that he or she does not already hold and to
enroll in at least three academic units per semester.
How many participants? According to the California
Military Department, since the enactment of the CNG
EAAP, to date, the program has not exceeded 1,000
awards in one academic year. To note, thus far in the
2013-14 academic year (AY), there are 345
participants. The chart below shows the number of
participants in the CNG EAAP over the course of four
years:
---------------------------------------------
|Fiscal Year |Number of CNG EAAP |
| |Participants |
|--------------+------------------------------|
|2009-10 |243 |
|--------------+------------------------------|
|2010-11 |450 |
|--------------+------------------------------|
|2011-12 |322 |
|--------------+------------------------------|
|2012-13 |292* |
---------------------------------------------
*For the 2012-13 AY, 156 previously qualifying
institutions became ineligible because of a change to
the definition of a qualifying institution for the Cal
Grant program. Due to this change, 59 new applicants
who had submitted completed applications had to be
turned away.
Award dollars? According to the California Military
Department, in the 2013-14 fiscal year approximately
$2.5 million (the total amount appropriated), has been
budgeted for CNG EAAP awards. To date, the CNG EAAP
has paid out $1,532,485.00 in awards for 2013-14. To
note, the California Military Department is projected
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to use all the funds for this fiscal year. The chart
below shows the dollar amount that has been awarded to
eligible participants over the course of four years:
----------------------------------------------
|Fiscal Year |Distributed Award |
| |Dollars |
|---------------------+------------------------|
|2009-10 |$795,759.00 |
|---------------------+------------------------|
|2010-11 |$2,472,246.00 |
|---------------------+------------------------|
|2011-12 |$2,418,392.00 |
|---------------------+------------------------|
|2012-13 |$1,988,534.00* |
| | |
----------------------------------------------
*For the 2012-13 AY, 156 previously qualifying
institutions became ineligible because of a change to
the definition of a qualifying institution for the Cal
Grant program. Due to this change, 59 new applicants
who had submitted completed applications had to be
turned away.
SUPPORT
California State Student Association
California State University
Community College League of California
Veterans Caucus of the California Democratic Party
OPPOSITION
None on file.