BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1361|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1361
Author: Burke (D)
Amended: 5/20/15 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-0, 6/24/15
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 6/1/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Student financial aid: Cal Grant Program: veterans
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill exempts a current or former member of the
Armed Forces of the United States, unless the individual
received a dishonorable discharge, from the age limitations of
the California Community College (CCC) Transfer Cal Grant
Entitlement Program.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Cal Grant program, administered by the
California Student Aid Commission (CSAC), to provide tuition
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and access cost assistance to eligible students attending
qualified institutions. The CCC Transfer Entitlement Awards
provide Cal Grant A and B awards to every student who
graduated from a California high school after June 30, 2000,
was a California resident at the time of high school
graduation, transferred to a qualifying baccalaureate-degree
granting institution from a CCC during the award year, was
under the age of 28 at the time of the transfer, and had a
minimum California Community College grade point average (GPA)
of 2.4. (Education Code § 69432)
2)Provides maximum award amounts for California State University
(CSU) and University of California (UC) are established in the
annual Budget Act and have traditionally covered all system
wide tuition and fees. The maximum tuition award for Cal Grant
A and B for students attending private for-profit colleges is
$4,000 (commencing 2013-14), and for students attending
non-profit or Western Association of Schools and Colleges
(WASC)-accredited for-profit institutions is $8,056
(commencing 2015-16). (EC § 69432)
This bill:
1)Exempts a current or former member of the Armed forces of the
United States, unless the individual received a dishonorable
discharge, from the age limitations of the California
Community College (CCC) Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement
Program.
2)Requires an institution to ensure that it does not accept
award funds under both this section and United States Code
Title 38 in the same award year for a current or former member
of the Armed Forces of the United States who is 28 years of
age or older.
COMMENTS
1)Need for the bill. Current law requires a student to be under
the age of 28 years old in order to be eligible for the
California Community College Transfer Entitlement (Transfer
Entitlement). According to the author, this age eligibility
requirement presents a barrier for veterans who as a result of
their time in the service, attend college later in life, tend
to be older and are more likely to support a family while
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enrolled in school. The California Community College
Chancellor's Office reports that approximately 27,000 of
veterans attending California Community Colleges (CCC) are
over the age of 30. This bill seeks to allow veterans greater
access to higher education by removing the age requirement in
order to qualify for the Transfer Entitlement Award.
2)The Community College Transfer Entitlement Program. The
Transfer Entitlement award was structured to provide the same
guarantee of Cal Grant eligibility to California students who
start community college and transfer to a four year college or
university some years later, as the Cal Grant Entitlement
program provides high school students entering directly into
four year college or university.
3)The Transfer Entitlement award provides for full fees at CCC,
California State University (CSU) and the University of
California (UC), as well as tuition support at private
California colleges and universities. For veterans 28 years or
older this bill would provide a new education benefit that
otherwise would not have been available. Particularly for
veteran students who have exhausted GI bill eligibility.
4)Other tuition benefits for veterans. Veterans may access
various education benefits through the federal government. The
most common among them is the federal Montgomery GI Bill,
which provides active-duty service members and veterans a
monthly tax-free benefit to be used for tuition, books, fees,
and living expenses while earning an undergraduate or graduate
degree, or attending trade school. The GI bill could provide
veteran students up to $20,000 (approximately) in education
benefits for the 2015-16 academic year.
To note, the federal government is the last payer if the state
offers an equivalent tuition benefit to veterans. To avoid
supplanting federal dollars, this bill specifies that a
veteran cannot use both sources within the same academic year.
A student would need to choose when to use either award in
order to maximize the expanded benefit provided by provisions
in this bill.
Prior Legislation
AB 303 (Calderon, 2014) would have entitled an otherwise
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eligible veteran to a Cal Grant A Entitlement Award or a Cal
Grant B Entitlement Award. AB 303 was pulled from the Assembly
Higher Education committee at the request of the chair.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, unknown,
potentially significant costs depending on the number of
students that opt to postpone the use of their GI benefits in
order to receive a Cal Grant under the CCC Transfer Cal Grant
Entitlement Program. Because benefits under the GI bill are
greater than provided through the state's student financial aid
program, it is unlikely that many students will choose to access
this benefit.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/27/15)
California School Employees Association
Community College League of California
AMVETS-Department of California
American Legion Department of California
California Association of County Veteran Service Officers
California State Commanders Veterans Council
Vietnam Veterans of America-California State Council
OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/27/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 6/1/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
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Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/31/15 10:14:19
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