BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 801
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|Author: |Bloom |
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|Version: |June 1, 2015 Hearing |
| |Date: July 8, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira |
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Subject: Postsecondary education: Success for Homeless Youth
in Higher Education Act
SUMMARY
This bill requires the extension of priority enrollment, as
specified, to homeless youth or former homeless youth at the
California Community Colleges (CCC) and the California State
University (CSU) and requests that the University of California
(UC) make this same extension, requires designation of a
Homeless and Foster Student Liaison at each Cal Grant
participating institution, grants homeless youth enrolling in a
public higher education institution residency status, as
specified, requires the waiver of per unit fees for a homeless
youth or former homeless youth at the community colleges and
adds homeless youth to the categories of youth to be served
under existing financial aid programs and services.
BACKGROUND
Existing federal law:
1)Defines the term "homeless children and youth" to mean
individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime
residence, as specified, including, but not limited to, the
following: 1) children and youth who are sharing the housing
of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or
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a similar reason; 2) are living in motels, hotels, trailer
parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative
adequate accommodations; 3) are living in emergency or
transitional shelters; 4) are abandoned in hospitals; 5) are
awaiting foster care placement; 6) have a primary nighttime
residence that is a public or private place not designed for
or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for
human beings; and, 7) are living in cars, parks, public
spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train
stations, or similar settings. (42 United States Code §
11301, et seq.)
2)Defines "homeless youth", under Section 725 of the federal
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act; to mean a person who
is 24 years of age or younger and who has been determined to
be homeless at any time during the current calendar year; and,
defines "former homeless youth" to mean a person who is 24
years of age or younger, and who, while not currently
homeless, has been determined to be homeless, at any time in
the immediately preceding six calendar years, by any of the
following: a) a homeless services provider, as defined; b)
the director of a federal TRIO program or Gaining Early
Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs program, or
a designee of that director; and, c) a financial aid
administrator for an institution of higher education.
Existing state law:
1)Requires, until January 1, 2017, the California State
University (CSU) and each community college district and
requests each campus of the University of California (UC) that
administers a priority enrollment system, to grant priority
registration for enrollment of current or former foster youth.
(Education Code § 66025.9)
2)Establishes the Community College Student Financial Aid
Outreach Program, administered by the California Student Aid
Commission (CSAC) to provide financial aid training to high
school and community college counselors and advisors who work
with students planning to attend or attending a California
Community College (CCC). The training is required to address
the specific needs of CCC students intending to transfer to a
four-year institution, foster youth, and students with
AB 801 (Bloom) Page 3
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disabilities.
(EC § 69514.5)
3)Establishes the Student Opportunity and Access Program,
administered and supported by CSAC, to apportion funds, as
specified for projects designed to increase the accessibility
of postsecondary educational opportunities for elementary and
secondary school pupils who are from low-income families, who
would be the first in their families to attend college, and
who are from schools or geographic regions with documented
low-eligibility or college participation rates.
(EC § 69561)
4)Requires a community college governing board to charge each
student a $46 per unit fee per semester. Existing law makes
this fee requirement inapplicable to noncredit courses and
specified student groups and authorizes the governing board to
exempt certain student groups from this fee. Existing law
specifically requires that these fees be waived for students
who, at the time of enrollment meet specified requirements,
including, that they are members of the military, veterans or
their dependents, as specified, receive benefits under the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, the
Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment
Program, or a general assistance program, demonstrate
eligibility according to income standards established by
regulations of the CCC Board of Governors, demonstrates
financial need in accordance with the methodology set forth in
federal law or regulation for determining the expected family
contribution of students seeking financial aid, is a dependent
or surviving spouse who has not remarried, of any member of
the California National Guard who, in the line of duty and
while in the active service of the state, was killed, died of
a disability resulting from an event that occurred while in
the active service of the state, or is permanently disabled as
a result of an event that occurred while in the active service
of the state and various others, as specified. (EC § 76300)
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ANALYSIS
This bill:
1)Requires the California State University (CSU) and each
California Community College (CCC), and requests each UC
campus that administers a priority enrollment system, to
extend priority enrollment to current or former homeless
youth.
2)Defines "homeless" and "homeless youth" as having the same
meaning as defined in Section 725 of the federal
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (see background).
3)Requires a qualifying postsecondary educational institution, as
defined for purposes of the Cal Grant program, to both:
a) Designate an existing staff member within the
financial aid office, or another appropriate office or
department of the institution to serve as the Homeless and
Foster Student Liaison who is required to be responsible
for understanding the federal Higher Education provisions
on financial aid eligibility applicable to foster youth and
homeless youth, as specified and to assist these students
in applying for and receiving federal and state financial
aid and services.
b) Inform current and prospective students of the
institution about student financial aid and other
assistance available to current and former homeless and/or
foster youth, including their eligibility as independent
students, per the federal Higher Education Act (HEA).
4)Request the UC Regents adopt policies, to the extent feasible,
equivalent to the provisions outlined in (3).
5)Requires that a student that has been determined to be homeless,
as defined, at any time during the two years immediately
preceding residency classification be entitled to resident
classification until he/she has resided in the state the
minimum time necessary to establish residency if :
a) The student currently resides in California.
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b) The student is 19 years of age or under at the
time of enrollment in a public higher education
institution.
6)Expands the training requirements for high school and community
college counselors and advisors under the Community College
Student Financial Aid Outreach Program to include training on
the specific needs of current and former homeless youth, as
defined.
7)Adds homeless youth and former homeless youth, as defined, to the
student groups that may be served under Student Opportunity
and Access Program projects administered and supported by the
California Student Aid Commission (CSAC).
8)Expands the list of students whose fees are required to be waived
by a community college governing board to include any student
who is a current or former homeless youth, as defined, at the
time of enrollment.
9)Makes other clarifying, technical, and conforming changes.
STAFF COMMENTS
1)Need for the bill. This bill would allow homeless youth to
receive some of the same services and exemptions that are
available to foster youth. While many services exist for
foster youth and former foster youth, homeless youth are often
not documented in the child welfare system or legally
identified as dependents, so most are either unable to utilize
these benefits or unaware of programs for which they may
qualify. According to the author, in the 2012-13 school year
there were 18,000 homeless pupils in grade 12 alone; yet only
10,208 California college students in total indicated a status
of being homeless and unaccompanied.
2)Homeless youth. According to a September 2014 publication by the
California Homeless Youth Project, California's Homeless
Students, a Growing Population, California has the highest
rate of homeless youth in the nation and twice the rate of
homeless students as the national average (4 percent in
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California versus 2 percent nationally). In its 2013 Annual
Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development reports an estimated 46,924
homeless youths nationally on a single night in January, with
80 percent of these individuals between the ages of 18-24.
3)Other potential services for homeless youth? SB 1023 (Liu,
Chapter 771, Statutes of 2014) authorized the California
Community Colleges (CCC) Chancellors Office (CCCCO) to enter
into agreements with up to 10 CCC districts to establish the
Cooperating Agencies Foster Youth Educational Support program
in order to provide additional funds for services in support
of postsecondary education for foster youth. The 2015-16
Budget Act provides up to $15 million for this purpose. Should
this program be expanded to include homeless youth and former
homeless youth?
SUPPORT
Aspiranet
Bill Wilson Center
California Coalition for Youth
California Federation of Teachers
Campaign for College Opportunity
Children's Hospital of Los Angeles
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Echoes of Hope
Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership
Junior League of Orange County
University of California
OPPOSITION
None received.
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