Amended in Senate June 29, 2016

Amended in Assembly May 27, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 30, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2506

Introduced by Assembly Member Thurmond

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Gonzalez)

February 19, 2016

An act to add Section 69518.5 to the Education Code, relating to student financial aid.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2506, as amended, Thurmond. Student financial aid: Chafee grant awards.

Existing law establishes the Student Aid Commission as the state agency primarily responsible for the administration and coordination of student financial aid programs at California postsecondary educational institutions. Existing federal law establishes the Chafee Educational and Training Voucher program for the purposes of providing financial aid to current and former foster youth who are attending qualifying postsecondary educational institutions.

This bill would, to the extent permitted by federal law, establish the standards to be met by postsecondary educational institutions in order to be deemed to be qualifying institutions in this state with respect to the Chafee Educational and Training Voucher program. The bill would provide that, commencing with the 2017-18 academic year, a current or former foster youth is entitled to a Chafee grant award, and would require the commission to allocate that grant award, if the student meets specified criteria.

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The bill would express the intent of the Legislature that the memorandum of understanding entered into between the State Department of Social Services and the Student Aid Commission for the administration of the Chafee Educational and Training Voucher program be amended to reflect the provisions of this bill. The bill would provide that, notwithstanding any of its other provisions, an individual who has received a Chafee grant award for the 2016-17 academic year, and is enrolled at a postsecondary educational institution in this state, would be entitled to use a Chafee grant award for as long as he or she is enrolled at that institution and is making reasonable progress toward graduation or toward otherwise completing his or her course of study at that institution.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) There are 66,000 children and youth in California’s foster
care system who have been removed from their biological families
due to maltreatment and placed into the care and custody of the
State of California.

(b) (1) The Legislature recognizes the historic
underrepresentation of foster youth in postsecondary programs
and the need for equitable efforts that enhance the enrollment and
retention of foster youth in public colleges and universities in
California.

(2) Current and former foster youth who attend college
experience a low rate of persistence, transfer, and degree
completion. Foster youth are 85 percent less likely to successfully
complete 30 units or more anytime during community college as
compared to the general student population.

(3) Receipt of financial aid plays an important role in
persistence, transfer, and degree completion. Fifty percent of foster
youth who receive the Chafee Educational and Training Voucher
complete three semesters or more of community college, as
compared with 34 percent of foster youth who do not receive the
Chafee Educational and Training Voucher.

(4) Access to the Chafee Educational and Training Voucher is
limited. One in four eligible applicants is not awarded a grant due
to limited funding. Without improved access to financial aid, foster
youth experience low educational attainment.

(5) Low educational attainment is a factor in the poor adult
outcomes experienced by youth in foster care. Compared to their
same-age counterparts, former foster youth at 26 years of age are
400 percent more likely to have been incarcerated and 300 percent
more likely to be living below the federal poverty level.

(c) The Legislature recognizes its responsibility to provide and
adequately fund postsecondary programs and services for students
who are current and former foster youth attending public
postsecondary institutions.

(d) The Legislature recognizes the importance of quality
education, and has taken action in the past to ensure financial aid
is directed to postsecondary institutions at which the graduation
rate and cohort default rate reflect a reasonable likelihood of
student graduation and success.

(e) Therefore, it is necessary and appropriate to take steps to
encourage the enrollment, retention, and transfer of current and
former foster youth in California’s public colleges and universities
by ensuring that all foster youth who meet the eligibility criteria
for the Chafee Educational and Training Voucher receive a grant.
Providing academic support to current and former foster youth in
the California Community Colleges serves a significant
governmental and public interest, namely the reduction in poverty
and criminal justice involvement among youth who have been in
foster care in California.

SEC. 2.  

Section 69518.5 is added to the Education Code, to
read:

69518.5.  

(a) To the extent permitted by federal law, this section
establishes the standards for postsecondary educational institutions
to be classified as qualifying institutions in this state for purposes
of the Chafee Educational and Training Voucher program
authorized by the federal Promoting Safe and Stable Families
Amendments of 2001 (Public Law 107-133).

(b) The commission shall certify by October 1 of each year a
postsecondary educational institution’s latest three-year cohort
default rate and graduation rate as most recently reported by the
United States Department of Education.

(c) In accordance with subdivision (a), the following standards
shall apply in determining an institution’s eligibility for the use of
initial and renewal Chafee grant awards by its students:

(1) An otherwise qualifying institution with a three-year cohort
default rate that is equal to or greater than 15.5 percent, as certified
by the commission on October 1, 2017, and on October 1 of any
year thereafter, shall be ineligible for the use of initial and renewal
Chafee grant awards at the institution.

(2) (A) An otherwise qualifying institution that becomes
ineligible under this paragraph for initial and renewal Chafee grant
awards may regain its eligibility for the academic year following
an academic year in which it satisfies the requirements established
in paragraph (1) or (4), as applicable.

(B) If the United States Department of Education corrects or
revises an institution’s three-year cohort default rate or graduation
rate that originally failed to satisfy the requirements established
in paragraph (1) or (4), as applicable, and the correction or revision
results in the institution’s three-year cohort default rate or
graduation rate satisfying those requirements, that institution shall
immediately regain its eligibility for the academic year to which
the corrected or revised three-year cohort default rate or graduation
rate would have been applied.

(3) An otherwise qualifying institution for which no three-year
cohort default rate or graduation rate has been reported by the
United States Department of Education shall be provisionally
eligible for Chafee grant awards until a three-year cohort default
rate or graduation rate has been reported for the institution by the
United States Department of Education.

(4) For purposes of the 2017-18 academic year, and every
academic year thereafter, an otherwise qualifying institution with
a graduation rate of 30 percent or less for students taking 150
percent or less of the expected time to complete degree
requirements, as reported by the United States Department of
Education and as certified by the commission, shall be ineligible
for the use of initial and renewal Chafee grant awards at the
institution.

(5) Notwithstanding any other law, the requirements of this
subdivision do not apply to institutions with 40 percent or less of
undergraduate students borrowing federal student loans, using
information reported to the United States Department of Education
for the academic year two years before the year in which the
commission is certifying the three-year cohort default rate or
graduation rate.

(6) Notwithstanding any other law, the requirements of this
subdivision do not apply to institutions where an eligible Chaffee
grant recipient is attending an institution outside of California.

(7) Nothing in this section shall preclude an eligible Chafee
grant recipient who chooses to attend an institution outside of
California from using Chafee funds at that institution.

(d) The commission shall do all of the following:

(1) Notify initial recipients seeking to attend, or attending, an
institution that is ineligible for initial and renewal Chafee grant
awards under paragraph (1) or (4) of subdivision (c) that the
institution is ineligible, under state standards, for the use of initial
awards for the academic year for which the student received an
initial award.

(2) Notify renewal recipients attending an institution that is
ineligible, under state standards, for initial and renewal Chafee
grant awards at the institution under paragraph (1) or (4) of
subdivision (c).

(3) Provide initial and renewal Chafee grant recipients seeking
to attend, or attending, an institution that is ineligible for initial
and renewal Chafee grant awards at the institution under paragraph
(1) or (4) of subdivision (c) with a complete list of all California
postsecondary educational institutions at which the student would
be eligible, under state standards, to receive an unreduced Chafee
grant award.

(e) Commencing with the 2017-18 academic year, a current or
former foster youth is entitled to a Chafee grant award, and the
commission shall allocate that award, pursuant to the requirements
of this section, if that current or former foster youth meets both of
the following criteria:

(1) He or she meets the Chafee grant requirements as set forth
in the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (42
U.S.C. Sec. 677(i)).

(2) He or she submits a Free Application for Federal Student
Aid and a Chafee grant application between January 1 and
September 2 of each calendar year for the academic year beginning
in the fall of that calendar year.

(f) The amount of any individual Chafee grant award shall
depend on the cost of attendance at the qualifying institution at
which the student is enrolled. For each applicant, the award amount
shall not exceed the amount of the calculated financial need.

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(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that the memorandum of
understanding entered into between the State Department of Social
Services and the Student Aid Commission for the administration
of the Chafee Educational and Training Voucher program be
amended to reflect the provisions of this section.

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(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, an
individual who has (1) received a Chafee grant award for the
2016-17 academic year, and (2) is enrolled at a postsecondary
educational institution in this state, shall be entitled to use a Chafee
grant award for as long as he or she is enrolled at that institution
and is making reasonable progress toward graduation or toward
otherwise completing his or her course of study at that institution.

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