CHAPTER _______

An act to amend Section 89708 of the Education Code, relating to the California State University.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 716, Low. California State University: special sessions.

Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Under existing law, 23 institutions of higher education constitute the California State University. Existing law requires that tuition fees adequate to meet the cost of maintaining special sessions, as defined, in the California State University be collected from students enrolled in each special session pursuant to rules and regulations prescribed by the trustees. Existing law prohibits self-supporting special sessions, as defined, from supplanting regular course offerings available on a non-self-supporting basis during the regular academic year.

This bill would provide that, for purposes of these provisions, supplanting occurs when an institution reduces the number of state-supported course offerings while increasing the number of self-supporting versions of that course. The bill also requires, to the extent possible, that each campus ensure that a state-supported course is offered for any course required as a condition of undergraduate degree completion for a state-supported matriculated student. The bill would prohibit all campuses from requiring a state-supported matriculated student to enroll in a special session course in order to fulfill a graduation requirement for a state-supported degree program.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 89708 of the Education Code is amended to read:

89708.  

(a) Tuition fees adequate, in the long run, to meet the cost of maintaining special sessions in the California State University shall be required of, and collected from, students enrolled in each special session pursuant to rules and regulations prescribed by the trustees.

(b) “Special sessions,” as used in this division, means self-supporting instructional programs conducted by the California State University. The special sessions shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, career enrichment and retraining programs. It is the intent of the Legislature that those programs, currently offered on a self-supporting basis by the California State University during summer sessions, may be provided throughout the year, and shall be known as special sessions. The self-supporting special sessions shall not supplant, as defined in subparagraph (c), regular course offerings available on a non-self-supporting basis during the regular academic year.

(c) “Supplanting,” as used in this section, means reducing the number of state-supported course offerings while increasing the number of self-supporting versions of that course.

(d) To the extent possible, each campus shall ensure that any course required as a condition of undergraduate degree completion for a state-supported matriculated student shall be offered as a state-supported course. A campus shall not require a state-supported matriculated student to enroll in a special session course in order to fulfill a graduation requirement for a state-supported degree program.

    98