AB 2099, as introduced, Frazier. Postsecondary education: Title 38 awards.
Title 38 of the United States Code provides educational awards for eligible active duty members and veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States. Existing law requires an institution headquartered or operating in California desiring to enroll students eligible for federal Title 38 awards in accredited courses to make application for approval of these courses to the California State Approving Agency for Veterans Education, commonly known as CSAAVE, and authorizes CSAAVE to approve the application of the school when the school and its accredited courses satisfy the specified criteria and any additional reasonable criteria established by CSAAVE.
Unless an exception applies, this bill would deem an institution ineligible for initial and renewal Title 38 awards if the institution has a 3-year cohort default rate equal to or greater than 15.5% or a graduation rate of 30% or less for students taking 150% or less of the expected time to complete degree requirements, or does not satisfy the other criteria for qualification for Title 38 awards in the bill.
The bill would require CSAAVE to certify by October 1 of each year an institution’s latest 3-year cohort default rate and graduation rate as most recently reported by the United States Department of Education, to notify initial Title 38 recipients seeking to attend, or attending, an institution that is ineligible for initial and renewal Title 38 awards that the institution is ineligible for Title 38 awards for the academic year, and to provide initial and renewal Title 38 recipients at an ineligible institution with a complete list of all California postsecondary institutions at which the student would be eligible to receive a Title 38 award.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 67100)
2is added to Part 40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code,
3to read:
4
The Legislature finds and declares the following:
8(a) Section 21.4253 of the Code of Federal Regulations requires
9a postsecondary institution headquartered or operating in California
10desiring to enroll veterans or persons eligible for Title 38 awards
11in accredited courses to make application for approval of these
12courses to the California State Approving Agency for Veterans
13Education, commonly known as CSAAVE, as the state approving
14agency legally designated pursuant to Section 3671 of Subchapter
15I of Chapter 36 of Title 38 of the United States Code.
16(b) Section 21.4253 authorizes CSAAVE to approve the
17application of the school when the school and its accredited courses
18satisfy the criteria provided in
Section 21.4253 and additional
19reasonable criteria established by CSAAVE.
20(c) It is reasonable pursuant to Section 21.4253 for CSAAVE
21to require an institution to maintain a three-year cohort default rate
22and graduation rate that satisfies the three-year cohort default rate
23and graduation rate requirements of the Cal Grant Program for the
24institution to be eligible for initial and renewal Title 38 awards.
The Title 38 Funding Program is hereby established,
26under the administration of the California State Approving Agency
27for Veterans Education.
As used in this chapter, the following terms have the
2following meanings:
3(a) An “academic year” is July 1 to June 30, inclusive. The
4starting date of a session shall determine the academic year in
5which it is included.
6(b) “CSAAVE” is the California State Approving Agency for
7Veterans Education.
8(c) (1) “Qualifying institution” means an institution that
9complies with paragraphs (2) and (3) and is any of the following:
10(A) A California private or independent postsecondary
11educational institution that participates in the Pell Grant Program
12and in at
least two of the following federal campus-based student
13aid programs:
14(i) Federal Work-Study.
15(ii) Perkins Loan Program.
16(iii) Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program.
17(B) A nonprofit institution headquartered and operating in
18California that certifies to CSAAVE that 10 percent of the
19institution’s operating budget, as demonstrated in an audited
20financial statement, is expended for purposes of institutionally
21funded student financial aid in the form of grants, that demonstrates
22to the CSAAVE that it has the administrative capacity to administer
23the funds, that is accredited by the Western Association of Schools
24and Colleges, and that meets any other state-required criteria
25adopted by regulation by the CSAAVE in consultation with the
26
Department of Finance. A regionally accredited institution that
27was deemed qualified by the CSAAVE to participate in the Cal
28Grant Program for the 2013-14 academic year shall retain its
29eligibility as long as it maintains its existing accreditation status.
30(C) A California public postsecondary educational institution.
31(2) (A) The institution shall provide information on where to
32access California license examination passage rates for the most
33recent available year from graduates of its undergraduate programs
34leading to employment for which passage of a California licensing
35examination is required, if that data is electronically available
36through the Internet Web site of a California licensing or regulatory
37agency. For purposes of this paragraph, “provide” may exclusively
38include placement of an Internet Web site address labeled as an
39access point for the data
on the passage rates of recent program
40graduates on the Internet Web site where enrollment information
P4 1is also located, on an Internet Web site that provides centralized
2admissions information for postsecondary educational systems
3with multiple campuses, or on applications for enrollment or other
4program information distributed to prospective students.
5(B) The institution shall be responsible for certifying to the
6CSAAVE compliance with the requirements of subparagraph (A).
7(3) (A) The CSAAVE shall certify by October 1 of each year
8the institution’s latest three-year cohort default rate and graduation
9rate as most recently reported by the United States Department of
10Education.
11(B) For purposes of the 2015-16 academic year, and every
12academic year thereafter, an otherwise qualifying institution with
13a three-year
cohort default rate that is equal to or greater than 15.5
14percent, as certified by the CSAAVE shall be deemed ineligible
15by CSAAVE for initial and renewal of Title 38 awards at the
16institution.
17(C) (i) An otherwise qualifying institution that becomes
18ineligible under this paragraph for initial and renewal of Title 38
19awards shall regain its eligibility for the academic year for which
20it satisfies the requirements established in subparagraph (B) or
21(E), as applicable.
22(ii) If the United States Department of Education corrects or
23revises an institution’s three-year cohort default rate or graduation
24rate that originally failed to satisfy the requirements established
25in subparagraph (B) or (E), as applicable, and the correction or
26revision results in the institution’s three-year cohort default rate
27or graduation rate satisfying those requirements, that institution
28shall immediately
regain its eligibility for the academic year to
29which the corrected or revised three-year cohort default rate or
30graduation rate would have been applied.
31(D) An otherwise qualifying institution for which no three-year
32cohort default rate or graduation rate has been reported by the
33United States Department of Education shall be provisionally
34eligible to participate in the Title 38 Funding Program until a
35three-year cohort default rate or graduation rate has been reported
36for the institution by the United States Department of Education.
37(E) For purposes of the 2015-16 academic year, and every
38academic year thereafter, an otherwise qualifying institution with
39a graduation rate of 30 percent or less for students taking 150
40percent or less of the expected time to complete degree
P5 1requirements, as reported by the United States Department of
2Education and as certified by the CSAAVE
pursuant to
3subparagraph (A), shall be deemed by CSAAVE to be ineligible
4for initial and renewal of Title 38 awards at the institution, except
5as provided for in subparagraph (G).
6(F) Notwithstanding any other law, the requirements of this
7paragraph shall not apply to institutions with 40 percent or less of
8undergraduate students borrowing federal student loans, using
9information reported to the United States Department of Education
10for the academic year two years before the year in which the
11CSAAVE is certifying the three-year cohort default rate or
12graduation rate pursuant to subparagraph (A).
13(G) Notwithstanding subparagraph (E), an otherwise qualifying
14institution with a three-year cohort default rate that is less than 10
15percent and a graduation rate above 20 percent for students taking
16150 percent or less of the expected time to complete degree
17requirements, as certified by
the CSAAVE pursuant to
18subparagraph (A), shall remain eligible for initial and renewal Title
1938 awards at the institution through the 2018-19 academic year.
20(H) The CSAAVE shall do all of the following:
21(i) Notify initial Title 38 recipients seeking to attend, or
22attending, an institution that is ineligible for initial and renewal
23Title 38 awards under subparagraph (B) or (E) that the institution
24is ineligible for initial Title 38 awards for the academic year for
25which the student received an initial Title 38 award.
26(ii) Provide initial and renewal Title 38 recipients seeking to
27attend, or attending, an institution that is ineligible for initial and
28renewal Title 38 awards at the institution under subparagraph (B)
29or (E) with a complete list of all California postsecondary
30educational institutions at which the
student would be eligible to
31receive a Title 38 award.
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