BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1583
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|Author: |Santiago |
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|Version: |May 31, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 29, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira |
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Subject: Community colleges: enrollment fee waiver
SUMMARY
This bill statutorily establishes a criteria for determining
income eligibility for a Board of Governor's fee waiver by
requiring that a waiver be granted to any student who
demonstrates financial need of at least one dollar.
BACKGROUND
Existing law requires the Board of Governors (BOG) to charge
each student a $46 per unit per semester fee. Existing law also
requires a waiver of these fees (BOG fee waiver) for students
who meet specified income requirements based on any of the
following criteria:
1) At the time of enrollment, the student is a recipient of
benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
program, the Supplemental Security Income/State
Supplementary Payment Program, or a general assistance
program.
2) Demonstrates eligibility according to income standards
established by regulations of the BOG.
3) Demonstrates financial need in accordance with the
methodology set forth in federal law or regulation for
determining the expected family contribution of students
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seeking financial aid. (Education Code § 76300)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Modifies criteria for determining income eligibility for a
Board off Governor's fee waiver by statutorily requiring
that a waiver be granted to any student who demonstrates
financial need of at least one dollar, using federal
financial aid methodology.
2) Deletes an obsolete provision.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Rationale for the bill. This bill is prompted by the
national debate over President Obama's College Promise,
which proposes two years of free community college for
eligible students. This bill, rather than implement free
community college tuition would reduce the amount of unmet
need students must demonstrate in order to qualify for the
BOG fee waiver program. The requirements for eligibility
established by the bill would reflect a policy under which
the BOG fee waiver program operated prior to 2012.
2) History. In 2012, citing the significant growth in the
Board of Governors (BOG) fee waiver program both in the
number of recipients and the dollar value (1.13 million
recipients and $410 million) the California Community
College Chancellor's Office made an administrative change
to the methodology for conducting a needs analysis. Up to
that time a student with $1 of need was able to qualify for
the full BOG fee waiver. Because an eligible student has
all enrollment fees waived regardless of the amount of
financial need, students had been able to receive fee
waivers in excess of their financial need. This policy was
changed to ensure that awards do not exceed need and to
conform the BOG fee waiver program to the standards used
for other financial aid program, such as the Cal Grant.
Under the current policy, students whose financial need is
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less than the fees charged for full-time enrollment do not
receive an award. The annual threshold for eligibility for
the BOG waiver under the current policy is $1,104.
Students remain eligible for a BOG fee waiver to cover any
number of units as long as they demonstrate financial need
equal to or greater than this minimum. The chancellor's
office estimated a loss of eligibility for about 21,000 fee
waiver recipient's systemwide as a result of this change in
policy.
3) Who is in/out? According to information provided by the
Chancellor's Office, recipients at the upper end of the
income spectrum were affected by the BOG fee waiver policy
change. Because financial need takes into account a
variety of factors, it is difficult to identify an exact
income cut-off for eligibility. However, the chancellor's
office provides the following examples of students who were
eligible under the old policy, but were no longer eligible
after the change in 2012:
a) A single student over the age of 24 with no
children, an annual income of $71,500 per year, and
$2,000 in savings.
b) A married student with one child and a combined
annual income of $100,000 and $500 in savings.
c) An 18 year old student living with parents in a
family of four with parental annual income of $85,000
per year and $12,000 in assets.
4) Is this bill necessary? Under current law, the Chancellor's
Office has the authority to administratively set the
financial need threshold for the BOG fee
waivers. The Chancellor's Office reports that prior adjustments
to the policy were based upon direction and guidance from the
Legislature and the Department of Finance.
In light of the system's past responsiveness, is it necessary or
prudent to limit the flexibility of the Board of Governors (BOG)
to adjust fee waiver policy to respond to changing fiscal
conditions or legislative/administrative direction?
5) Policy trade-offs? According to the Chancellor's Office,
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of the 2.1 million California Community College students,
55 percent receive a BOG fee waiver. Since the inception
of the program in 1984, more than 5.1 million students have
been exempted from fees and the state has invested more
than $5 billion in the program. The Chancellor's Office
also reports that in the past decade, participation in the
program has grown by 86 percent and this year the program
is projected to cover $803 million in fees.
The Chancellor's Office estimates that the provisions of this
bill would result in over 33,000 additional students becoming
eligible for a fee waiver, at a cost of about $23 million.
Affected districts would receive additional general fund for the
fee's waived for these students. However, using general fund
monies for this purpose could mean a reduction in the amount of
funding available for other legislative priorities.
According to the US Department of Education's College
Affordability and Transparency Center, California's Community
college fees are well below the national average of $3,141 per
year. In addition, in a 2016 College Affordability Diagnosis
for California, the Institute for Research on Higher Education
notes the community colleges have become more affordable since
2008, as the percent of family income to enroll has declined
(ranking 13th nationally). The Chancellor's Office reports that
many students still struggle to pay for "access" costs which
make up 90 percent of the total costs of college attendance, and
as a result, have focused their legislative efforts on
increasing Cal Grant B access awards and increasing the number
of Competitive Cal Grants.
The Committee may wish to consider:
a) Is the provision of a benefit that exceeds a
student's calculated need this Committee's highest
priority for general fund apportionments to the
community colleges?
b) Would the expanded tuition relief proposed by
this bill come at the expense of efforts to expand
other financial aid programs to address the total cost
of attendance?
c) What would be the impact on the students with
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the greatest financial need?
SUPPORT
California Community College League
California Health+ Advocates
Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom
Western Association for College Admission Counseling
OPPOSITION
None received.
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