BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1449 (Lopez) - Student financial aid: California Community
College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement Program
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|Version: June 20, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 1, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill exempts a student from the high school
graduation requirement of the California Community College (CCC)
Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement Program, if the student was a
California resident on his or her 18th birthday.
Fiscal
Impact:
According to the California Student Aid Commission
(Commission) costs are about $1.4 million in the first year,
growing to $2.5 million General Fund by full implementation
(the fourth year) and out years, to provide a CCC Transfer Cal
Grant Entitlement to students that would have otherwise been
AB 1449 (Lopez) Page 1 of
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denied due to not fulfilling the high school graduation
requirement. This estimate assumes 177 new recipients would
be paid each year.
Estimated one-time administrative costs of $183,000 General
Fund to contract out to update applicable recipient forms and
to update the grant delivery system to accommodate this
change.
Background: Existing law authorizes the Cal Grant program, administered by
the Commission, to provide grants to students who have financial
need to attend a college or university. The Cal Grant programs
include both the entitlement and the competitive Cal Grant
awards. The program consists of the Cal Grant A, Cal Grant B,
and Cal Grant C and eligibility is based upon financial need,
grade point average (GPA), California residency and other
criteria. (Education Code § 69430-69433)
Existing law also establishes the Transfer Entitlement, to
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 GPA of 2.4.
(EC § 69436)
According to the author, California has established an
unnecessary barrier for nontraditional low-income transfer
students by requiring Transfer Entitlement award recipients to
possess a California high school diploma or equivalent. The
author notes that CCCs are required to admit all California
students over the age of 18 regardless of whether they have
obtained a high school diploma or equivalency, and a high school
diploma or equivalency is not a requirement for admittance at
University of California (UC) or California State University
(CSU) campuses if a student has satisfied requirements for
upper-division transfer from a CCC. This bill seeks to allow
returning students, who did not graduate high school, to earn a
Cal Grant upon transferring to a 4-year college or university.
AB 1449 (Lopez) Page 2 of
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Proposed Law:
This bill exempts a student from the high school graduation
requirement of the CCC Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement Program,
if the student was a California resident on his or her 18th
birthday.
Related
Legislation: AB 1721 (Medina, 2016) increases competitive Cal
Grant awards by 8,250, bringing the total number of awards to
34,000, and expands the number of these awards available to, and
reserved for, community college students. AB 1721 is pending in
this committee.
Staff
Comments: There have been recent budget changes related to Cal
Grant awards that impact CCC students. The Budget Act of 2015
provided an additional $8 million, growing to $23.4 million by
2018-19, to provide an increase of 3,250 competitive Cal Grant
awards. This brings the total number of awards to 25,750. Half
of the limited competitive Cal Grant awards available are set
aside for students who apply by the March 2 deadline, and the
other half are for CCC students who meet the September 2
application deadline.
The Budget Act of 2015 also provided $39 million in ongoing
Proposition 98 funds for purposes of the Full-Time Student
Success Grant Program, to be distributed to students who are
receiving the Cal Grant B Access Award and are taking 12 units
or more, to assist community college students with their living
costs. The Budget Act of 2016 provides $41 million for this
program which also includes CCC students who are receiving Cal
Grant C awards. The award is prohibited from exceeding $600 per
student annually.
Recommended
Amendments: Staff recommends setting an implementation date for
the 2017-18 award year so as to not require mid-year award
adjustments if this bill were to be enacted.
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