BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 440 (Padilla) - Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act
Amended: April 25, 2013 Policy Vote: Education 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: May 13, 2013 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 440 expands the provisions of the Student
Transfer Achievement Reform Act to require that the California
Community Colleges (CCC) create associate transfer degrees in
every major, and in areas of emphasis within majors before
academic year 2014-15 and 2016-2017, respectively, and to
require that the California State University (CSU) accept these
degrees, and develop an admissions redirection process for
students who complete these degrees but are denied admission to
the CSU campus to which they have applied. This bill also
requires the CCC and the CSU to establish a student-centered
communication and marketing strategy to increase the visibility
of the associate degree for transfer pathway, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
Associate degree for transfer: Potentially substantial
reimbursable mandate; one-time costs of $700,000 - $1
million to develop associate degrees for transfer for every
major that has a Transfer Model Curriculum (TMC) and,
subsequently, for every major and area of emphasis.
Communication/Marketing strategy: Minor costs to develop
the strategy, and substantial cost pressure to implement the
strategy; a marketing campaign as described in this bill is
likely to cost in excess of $1 million annually.
CSU redirection process: No new costs; the CSU has recently
developed a redirection process.
Background: Existing law requires a CCC district to develop and
grant a transfer associate degree that deems the student
eligible for transfer into the CSU, when the student meets
specified course requirements. (Education Code § 66746)
Existing law also requires the CSU to guarantee admission with
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junior status to any CCC student who meets these requirements,
but provides that the student is not guaranteed admission for
specific majors or campuses. However, the CSU is required to
grant a student priority admission to his or her local CSU
campus and to a program or major that is similar to his or her
CCC major or area of emphasis, as determined by the CSU campus
to which the student is admitted. Students that utilize the
associate transfer degree process are required to receive
priority over all other CCC transfer students, except for CCC
students who have entered into a transfer agreement between a
CCC and the CSU prior to the fall term of the 2012-13 academic
year. (EC § 66747)
In an effort to address concerns about the need to ensure a
transparent and more navigable transfer process between the CCC
and the CSU, SB 1440 (Padilla) Ch. 428/2010 was enacted. This
legislation required CCCs to create two-year, 60-unit associate
degrees for transfer that are fully transferable to CSU. These
degrees require completion of (1) a minimum of 18 units in a
major or area of emphasis, as determined by each CCC, and (2) an
approved set of general education requirements. Students who
earn such a degree are automatically eligible to transfer to the
CSU system as an upper-division student in a bachelor's degree
program. Though these students are not guaranteed admission to a
particular CSU campus or into a particular degree program, SB
1440 gives them priority admission to a CSU program that is
"similar" to the student's CCC major or area of emphasis, as
determined by the CSU campus to which the student is admitted.
Once admitted, SB 1440 students need only complete two
additional years (an additional 60 units) of coursework to earn
a bachelor's degree.
SB 1440 also required that the Legislative Analyst's Office
(LAO) provide a status report to the Legislature on the
segments' progress in implementing the bill's provisions. In May
2012, the LAO issued Reforming the State's Transfer Process: A
Progress Report on Senate Bill SB 1440. According to the LAO,
an average of just four associate degrees for transfer had been
developed per CCC. In addition, a number of CCCs had expressed
reluctance to create more than a handful of such degrees despite
the CCC Chancellor's Office goal that, by 2014, each CCC would
have a TMC-aligned associate degree for transfer in every major
it offers. The LAO also reported that CSU campuses and academic
programs vary significantly in terms of accepting the associate
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transfer degrees for their bachelor's degree programs. Although
the CSU Chancellor's Office had set a goal for each CSU campus
to offer at least one similar degree for each TMC-aligned
associate degree for transfer, only six CSU campuses had
achieved this goal. According to the CCC, as of April 2013, 616
associate degrees for transfer are being offered system wide,
representing 37% of the system wide goal.
Proposed Law: SB 440 requires that, prior to the 2014-15
academic year, the CCC create an associate degree for transfer
in every major that has a TMC. It also requires, prior to the
2016-17 academic year, that the CCC create an associate degree
for transfer in areas of emphasis for disciplines including, but
not necessarily limited to, all of the following: applied
sciences, formal sciences, humanities, natural sciences, and
social sciences. This bill requires that the CSU accept
TMC-aligned associate degrees for transfer in each of the CSU
degree options within a major field, and to develop an
admissions redirection process for students admitted under the
Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act (STAR) program, but
denied acceptance at the campuses to which they have applied,
and requires that this process be aligned with the guarantee of
admission into the CSU system under the STAR program. This bill
also requires the CCC and the CSU, in consultation with
specified entities, to develop a student centered marketing
strategy, as specified.
Staff Comments: This bill requires that, prior to the 2014-15
academic year, the CCC create an associate degree for transfer
in every major that has a TMC, and that prior to the 2016-17
academic year, the CCC create and utilize an associate degree
for transfer in areas of emphasis for disciplines. The CCC
Chancellor's Office estimates that it could cost up to $1
million, to create the associate degrees for transfer and to
implement them at each campus. These requirements are also
likely to constitute a new reimbursable mandate on CCCs.
This bill requires the CSU to develop an admissions redirection
process for students admitted under the STAR program, but denied
acceptance at all the campuses to which they have applied. The
CSU indicated that it has recently completed an admissions
redirection process for these students.
This bill also requires the CCC and the CSU, in consultation
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with specified entities, to develop a student-centered marketing
strategy to increase the visibility of the associate degree for
transfer pathway that includes outreach to high schools,
posters, banners, and marquees, radio advertisements, outreach
to students considering CSU attendance, in CCC course catalogs,
and information on campus websites and on the
CaliforniaColleges.edu website. While the bill technically only
requires that a strategy be "developed," it is clear that the
intention is to implement the communication and marketing
strategy. Current CCC communication and marketing efforts to
promote the associate degrees for transfer have cost $1.1
million since October 2011, and have been paid for through
grants, donations, and state funds.
A new marketing campaign is likely to drive substantial new
costs to the CCC and CSU; the party responsible for funding and
implementing the campaign is unclear. It is likely that
developing the marketing strategy will create cost pressure for
the Legislature to provide additional funding for
implementation. The "I Can Afford College" marketing campaign,
which involves similar tactics to those named in the bill, has
cost the state $2.8 million annually.