BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1583
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1583 (Santiago) - As Amended April 14, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill expands eligibility for the California Community
College (CCC) Board of Governors Fee Waiver (BOGFW), based on
financial need, and establishes an additional need-based program
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to provide additional aid to students receiving a BOGFW to
offset other costs of education. Specifically, this bill:
1)Amends the BOGFW eligibility criteria to include students who
demonstrate financial need of at least one dollar, in
accordance with the methodology set forth in federal law or
regulation for determining the expected family contribution of
students seeking financial aid.
2)Requires the BOG, by January 1, 2018, to ensure a fee waiver
application can be completed and submitted electronically.
3)Requires the BOG to establish a need-based program to provide
fee waiver recipients up to $1,000 in additional aid per year
to offset a portion of the costs of textbooks, supplies,
transportation, and other living expenses.
4)Stipulates that eligibility for the additional aid per (3)
would be determined using the student's Free Application for
Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the California Dream Act
Application, as applicable.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)The Chancellor's Office estimates that over 33,000 additional
students would initially become eligible for a fee waiver, at
a cost of about $23 million (GF Prop 98), from changing the
financial need eligibility criteria to one dollar.
2)With over one million CCC students receiving a BOGFW, a
supplemental grant of up to $1,000 would cost up to $1
billion. (GF-Prop 98)
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3)It is estimated that requiring students to complete a FAFSA or
Dream Act application in order to qualify for the supplemental
grant would increase the number of applications completed by
20% to 25%. The resulting workload impact on financial aid
offices at the 113 campuses would cost in the range of $10
million (GF- Prop 98) statewide. Increased completion of these
applications would likely lead to increased Cal Grant
Entitlement program awards, resulting in significant increased
costs in this program.
4)The Chancellor's Office would incur one-time General Fund
costs of around $3 million for programming to provide for
online BOGFW applications and for the change in the financial
need eligibility criteria.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "? Despite the many
strengths of the BOGFW, eligibility is currently limited to
students who demonstrate financial need via various methods,
and these methods can unfortunately exclude various students
with low to lower-middle income and/or financial need.
Furthermore, CCC access and affordability are not exclusively
tied to tuition and fees; for instance, non-tuition costs can
represent more than 90 percent of the total cost of attending
community college?This bill strengthens and expands the BOGFW
to ensure more Californians have the opportunity to access and
afford community college."
2)BOGFW Background. In 1984, California enacted the first CCC
enrollment fee at $5 per unit, with a maximum of $50 per
semester and $100 per year. Simultaneously, the BOG was
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required to establish a financial aid program to negate the
effect of the introduction of enrollment fees on access for
low income students (BOGFW). The program was designed to make
sure that students with financial need did not face a barrier
to enrollment. Approximately 60% of full-time CCC students
receive a BOGFW. There are three income-based pathways to
qualify for the BOGFW. This bill increases eligibility pools
under one of these pathways as follows:
Until 2012, the BOGFW was awarded to any student demonstrating
at least $1 of financial need. In 2012, in response to a
growing population of students applying for and receiving
BOGFW, a policy change was made to require students to
demonstrate full need for the aid awarded, which is $1,104
based on current CCC fees. Approximately 21,000 students lost
the fee waiver in 2012-13 due to this change. This bill
returns need eligibility to the $1 threshold.
3)Related Legislation. AB 1721 (Medina), pending on this
committee's Suspense File, in part increases the Cal Grant B
access award, which helps offset non-tuition related costs, to
$3,000.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 1583
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