BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 410
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|Author: |Beall |
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|Version: |April 6, 2015 Hearing |
| |Date: April 22, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Olgalilia Ramirez |
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NOTE: This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education and Business, ???.. Professions, and Economic
Development. A "do pass" motion should include ???.. referral
to the Business, Professions, and Economic Development
Committee.
Subject: California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009
SUMMARY
This bill defines "on-time graduates" to mean students who
graduate within 100% of the program length in lieu of
classifying this group as "graduates."
BACKGROUND
Existing law, until January 1, 2017, establishes the California
Private Postsecondary Education Act (Act) of 2009, which
provides for the approval, regulation, and enforcement of
private postsecondary educational institutions by the Bureau for
Private Postsecondary Education (Bureau) within the Department
of Consumer Affairs (DCA). (Education Code § 94800-94950)
Existing law requires a regulated institution to provide a
prospective student with a School Performance Fact Sheet
containing information on completion rates, placement rates,
license examination passage rates, salary or wage information,
the most recent three-year cohort default rate and the
percentage of enrolled students receiving federal student loans
(if the institution participates in federal financial programs)
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and other specified information. The act defines numerous terms
for purposes of reporting this requirement, including adding a
second definition for graduates to mean "students who complete a
program within 100% of the published program length." (EC §
94910)
Exiting law also defines graduate to mean an individual who has
been awarded a degree or diploma and unless the context requires
otherwise this definition governs the construction of the
chapter. (EC § 94810 and 94842)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1. Defines "on-time graduates" to mean students who complete
100% of the published program length in lieu of classifying
this group as "graduates" for the purpose of making a
distinction between those who graduate on-time and all
other graduates as defined in section 94842 of the
Education Code.
2. Requires an institution to use "on-time graduates" in lieu
of "graduates," for calculating completion rates for each
program.
3. Makes another technical amendment.
STAFF COMMENTS
1. Need for the bill. Prior legislation, AB 2296 (Block, CH.
585, 2012) required institutions regulated by the Bureau to
expand existing disclosures requirements, including
completion and job placement rates, to prospective
students. The measure also added a second definition of
"graduates" as those who graduate within 100% of the
originally scheduled completion date. According to the
author, although it is appropriate and useful to know how
many students graduate within that time frame, its
application to job placement, salary and licensing data
skews the results because it includes only those graduates
who graduated within 100% of the scheduled time period, not
all graduates.
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This bill seeks to address this issue by using the term
"on-time graduates" to tell how many students graduated
on-time during a given reporting year and "graduate" to
mean an individual who has been awarded a degree or diploma
to report job placement, salaries and license passage for
all graduates during the given reporting year.
2. Relevant calculations. Current law requires an institution
regulated by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
(Bureau) to provide a prospective student with a School
Performance Fact Sheet containing information on completion
rates, placement rates, license examination passage rates
and salary or wage information, among other things. Each
rate is based on a formula outlined in statute:
A. Job placement rate is calculated by dividing the
number of graduates employed in the field by the
number of graduates available for employment for each
program.
The Children Advocacy Institute and the Center for
Public Interest Law explains how the job placement
rate can be very different based on the existing
definition:
"In a reporting year in which 200 students are
scheduled to graduate from a particular program
that year, 80 graduated within 100% of the time
originally scheduled. During that same reporting
year, however, a total of 150 graduated from that
program. Eighty-five of the graduates that year
obtained employment. Of those who obtained
employment, 70 had graduated on time during the
reporting year."
B. Completion rate is calculated by dividing the
number of graduates by the number of students
available for graduation. Instead this bill requires
an institution to use "on-time graduates" in lieu of
"graduates," for calculating completion rates for each
program.
C. License examination passage rates for the
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immediately preceding two years is calculated by
dividing the number of graduates who pass the exam by
the number of graduates who take the licensing exam
the first time after completing the education program.
D. Salary and Wage information, consisting of the
total number of graduates employed in the field and
the annual wages or salaries of those graduates.
3. Related and prior legislation.
AB 2296 (Block, CH 585, 2012) required institutions
regulated by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
(Bureau) to provide additional disclosures to prospective
students by among other things; establishing more stringent
criteria for determining gainful employment and calculating
job placement rates; and increasing institutional
documentation and reporting requirements around completion
rates, job placement/license exam passage rates for
graduates. AB 2296 defined graduates to mean those who
graduated with 100% of a program length.
SUPPORT
Center for Employment Training
Center for Public Interest Law
Children's Advocacy Institute
La Cooperative
Proteus, Inc.
Public Advocates
University of San Diego School of Law
Veterans Legal Clinic
OPPOSITION
None received.
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