BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                              Senator Carol Liu, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:             AB 1711            
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          |Author:    |McCarty                                              |
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          |Version:   |August 9, 2016                           Hearing     |
          |           |Date:      August 11, 2016                           |
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          |Urgency:   |Yes                    |Fiscal:    | Yes             |
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          |Consultant:|Olgalilia Ramirez                                    |
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          Subject:  University of California:  nonresident student  
          enrollment

          
          Note: This bill was previously heard by this Committee on June  
          29, 2016, failed passage by a vote of 3-4, and was granted  
          reconsideration. The bill has subsequently been amended to  
          respond to concerns raised in the committee analysis for the  
          June 29th hearing. This analysis has been updated to reflect  
          these amendments.

            SUMMARY
          
          This bill, an urgency measure, as a condition of receipt of  
          annual Budget Act funding, requires the University of California  
          (UC), in collaboration with the Academic Senate, to ensure that  
          implementation of any admissions policy it adopts regarding  
          nonresident undergraduate students to include guidance that  
          ensures that the academic qualifications of these students  
          generally exceeds, on average, the academic qualifications of  
          resident undergraduate students admitted at each campus. 

            BACKGROUND
          
          The California Constitution establishes the UC, a public trust  
          to be administered by the Regents of the UC and grants the  
          Regents full powers of organization and government, subject only  
          to such legislative control as may be necessary to insure  
          security of its funds, compliance with the terms of its  
          endowments, statutory requirements around competitive bidding  







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          and contracts, sales of property and the purchase of materials,  
          goods and services.  (Article IX, Section (9)(a) of the  
          California Constitution)

            ANALYSIS
          
          This bill:

          1)   As a condition of receipt of annual Budget Act funding  
               requires the UC to:

               a)        In collaboration with the Academic Senate, ensure  
               by July 1, 
               2017, that implementation of any admissions policy it  
          adopts regarding 
                    nonresident undergraduate students to include guidance  
                    that ensures that the academic qualifications of these  
                    students generally exceeds, on average, the academic  
                    qualifications of resident undergraduate students  
                    admitted at each campus. 



               b)        Report to the Legislature annually regarding  
               implementation of the policy, 
                    including but not limited to, the mean and median  
                    scores on academic indicators of admitted resident and  
                    nonresident undergraduate students at each campus.

          2)   Declares the bill an urgency measure in order to ensure the  
               UC and the Academic Senate review policies regarding the  
               academic qualifications of nonresident undergraduate  
               students at the earliest possible time. 

          STAFF COMMENTS
          
          1)   Need for the bill.  According to the author, there has been  
               a growing trend in the University of California (UC) to  
               enroll more out-of-state and international students at the  
               expense of California students. Systemwide nonresident  
               enrollment at the UC was 5 percent in 2007 and is currently  
               at its highest level of 15.5 percent while resident  
               enrollment has remained stagnant.  In March 2016, a report  
               by the State Auditor found that UC's admissions policies  








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               have disadvantaged and undermined their commitment to  
               California students in favor of nonresidents. This bill  
               implements recommendations from the report by requesting  
               that the UC ensure that any admissions policy it adopts  
               regarding nonresident undergraduate students includes  
               guidance that ensures that nonresidents generally exceed  
               the academic standards of California residents who are  
               admitted at each campus. 

          2)   Current status of out-of-state admissions.  The UC reports  
               that for the 2015-16 academic year, 15.5 percent of its  
               undergraduates systemwide were nonresidents. According to  
               the UC, nonresident enrollment for 2015-16 was capped at  
               those campuses that had seen the largest growth, Berkeley  
               (25 percent), Los Angeles (19 percent). San Diego (17  
               percent) was directed to cap their enrollment of  
               nonresidents at 20 percent.  

          3)   Related budget activity.  The 2015 Budget Act provided $25  
               million to the UC contingent on increasing California  
               resident enrollment by 5,000 students, holding resident  
               tuition flat in 2015-16 and 2016-17, and redirecting  
               nonresident institutional aid to support resident students.  


          The 2016 Budget Act provided an additional $18.5 million to the  
          UC contingent upon enrolling 2,500 more California residents by  
          the 2017-18 school year and upon the UC regent's adoption of a  
          university-wide policy capping the enrollment of nonresidents.

          4)   BSA Audit.  On March 29, 2016, the California State Auditor  
               released a report, The University of California, Its  
               Admissions and Financial Decisions have Disadvantaged  
               California Resident Students.  The report lists as its key  
               findings that the university has undermined its commitment  
               to residents in an effort to increase its revenue by  
               recruiting and enrolling nonresidents. The report  
               specifically cites that:
               
                  a)        Despite a 52 percent increase in resident  
                    applicants, resident enrollment increased by only 10  
                    percent over the last 10 years while nonresident  
                    enrollment increased by 432 percent.









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                  b)        The University lowered the admission standard  
                    for nonresidents and admitted nearly 16,000  
                    nonresidents over the past three years with academic  
                    scores that fell below the median of admitted  
                    residents.  

                  c)        Admitted residents were increasingly denied  
                    their campus of choice, yet admitted nonresidents were  
                    always admitted to one of their campuses of choice.

                  d)        Mandatory fees doubled for residents while  
                    they increased for nonresidents at a much lower rate. 

               Among other things, the Bureau of State Audits recommended  
               that the University of California (UC) revise its admission  
               standard for nonresidents to require campuses to admit only  
               nonresidents with admissions credentials that place them in  
               the upper half of the residents it admits.
                
               In response, the UC asserts that its admissions policies  
               overwhelmingly favor Californians, and that state funding  
               determines how many California residents the UC enrolls.

          1)   UC Admissions policy.   The Board of Admissions and  
               Relations with Schools (BOARS) oversees all matters  
               relating to the admissions of undergraduate students. BOARS  
               regulates the policies and practices used in the admissions  
               process and recommends and directs efforts to improve the  
               admissions process. According to the UC, its Comprehensive  
               Review Policy governs the admission and selection of  
               undergraduates at its nine campuses.  Freshmen applications  
               are assessed using multiple measures of achievement (high  
               school course completion, grade point average, and  
               standardized test scores) and promise while considering  
               applicants' educational context.  Comprehensive review  
               involves consideration of 14 factors, utilized by all  
               campuses, but the specific evaluation process and weight  
               given to each factor differ from campus to campus, and year  
               to year, based on campus-specific goals and needs.

               According to the UC this same comprehensive review is  
               applied to nonresident applicants.  

          2)   UC Admission Guarantee.  UC's admission guarantee policy,  








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               applicable to all California resident high school  
               graduates, includes Statewide Eligibility (SE), Eligibility  
               in the Local Context (ELC), and Entitled to Review (ETR).    
               The UC guarantees admission to the system (though not  
               necessarily to the first-choice campus) to all California  
               applicants who are in the top 9 percent of California high  
               school graduates (SE), or in the top 9 percent of their  
               respective high school class (ELC).  The top 9 percent is  
               determined by a formula based on grade point average (GPA)  
               and standardized test scores. 

               In 2012, the University of California (UC) implemented a  
               new freshman admissions policy, Entitled to Review (ETR).    
               Under this policy, students are not guaranteed admission,  
               but are guaranteed a comprehensive review of their  
               application if they have completed 11 of 15 required a-g  
               courses with a weighted GPA of at least 3.0 by the end of  
               their junior year.  The intent was to confer the right to a  
               full application review to a broader pool of college-going  
               California students while ending the practice of excluding  
               many high-achieving students solely on the basis of UC's  
               extensive standardized testing requirements.

               According to the UC, it does not provide a similar  
               guarantee of admission to nonresident students.

          3)   BOARS policy change on admission of nonresidents.  In 2011,  
               BOARS approved new guidelines regarding the admission of  
               nonresident and international students that eliminated  
               wording that nonresidents "should demonstrate  stronger  
               admission criteria than CA residents by generally being in  
               the upper half of those ordinarily eligible" for admission.  
                BOARS revised its principles to state that admitted  
               nonresidents should "compare favorably to California  
               residents admitted." In addition, a December 2011  
               resolution by BOARS resolves that to the fullest extent  
               possible campuses should evaluate and select residents and  
               nonresidents according to the same criteria and scores,  
               enrollment targets for nonresidents should be set such that  
               admitted nonresidents compare favorably at each campus,  
               campus Senate admissions committees should work with local  
               campus administration, and if needed BOARS and systemwide  
               administration to ensure these principles are being met.   
               At the end of each admission cycle BOARS resolved that each  








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               campus provide an assessment of the extent to which the  
               compare favorable rule is being met to include a  
               description of, the evaluation/selection criteria,  
               measures, and supporting data.

          4)   Current policy for admission of nonresidents. The UC  
               reports that the current policy for admissions of  
               nonresidents includes the following provisions:

               a)        Nonresident applicants must have a higher GPA  
                    than resident applicants.

               b)        There is no guarantee of admission for  
                    nonresidents, while there is for California residents.

               c)        Nonresident students must be at least as  
                    qualified, on average, as admitted students across the  
                    system. 

          In addition, the UC indicates that the President of the  
          University will ask the Academic Senate to review its current  
          policy regarding nonresident admission and the University is  
          committed to full transparency on their compliance with the  
          policy by reporting annually on the relative qualifications of  
          admitted residents and nonresidents. 

          5)   Similar legislation.  SCA 12 (Runner and Huff) proposed to  
               modify Article IX of the State Constitution to require the  
               UC Regents to ensure that priority in admissions is given  
               to applicants who are California residents.  SCA 12 was  
               heard and passed by this Committee on April 20, 2016, but  
               was subsequently held in the Senate Judiciary Committee.


            SUPPORT
          
          None received on this version.

            OPPOSITION
           
           University of California 


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