BILL NUMBER: AB 2506 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 19, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 16, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 29, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 30, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Thurmond
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Gonzalez)
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to add Section 69518.5 to amend
Section 69519 of 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, commencing with the 2017-18 academic year,
in order to be deemed to be qualifying institutions in this
state with respect to the Chafee Educational and Training Voucher
program. would make a new Chafee grant award to a
student only if the student attends a qualifying institution that is
eligible for participation in the Cal Grant Program pursuant to a
specified provision of the Cal Grant Program enabling act or if the
student attends an instit ution that is not located in
California that satisfies a specified provision of the Cal Grant
Program enabling act.
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.
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. Section 69519 of the
Education Code is amended to read:
69519. (a) The commission, through an interagency agreement with
the State Department of Social Services, currently operates a
federally funded scholarship program that provides grant aid to
provide access to California's current and former foster youth to
postsecondary education. Funds provided through an appropriation by
the Legislature shall be supplemental to funds provided by the
federal government government, and are
designated to ensure program availability in the absence of and prior
to the annual receipt of federal funds for this purpose.
(b) Funds provided for this program shall be used to assist
students who are current and former foster youth, for career and
technical training or traditional college courses. The commission
shall operate this program in accordance with the program
instructions provided by the federal Department of Health and Human
Services, Administration for Children and Families, and the program
guidelines developed by the State Department of Social Services.
(c) The total amount of funding and the amount of individual
awards shall depend upon the amount of federal funding provided in
addition to state funding. The commission, in conjunction with the
State Department of Social Services, shall determine the individual
award amounts and total number of students awarded on an annual basis
as the amount of total annual funding is determined.
(d) Commencing with the 2017-18 award year, the commission shall
make a new Chafee grant award to a student only if the student
attends either of the following:
(1) A qualifying institution that is eligible for participation in
the Cal Grant Program pursuant to Section 69432.7.
(2) An institution that is not located in California that
satisfies the provisions of subparagraphs (C) and (F) of paragraph
(3) of subdivision (l) of Section 69432.7.
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.
(c) 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.
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) In accordance with subdivision (a), for purposes of the
2017-18 academic year and each academic year thereafter, 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 subdivision 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) 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.
(c) The commission shall do both 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 (b) 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 (b).
(d) 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.
(e) 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.