BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 410|
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CONSENT
Bill No: SB 410
Author: Beall (D)
Amended: 4/6/15
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/22/15
AYES: Liu, Runner, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning,
Pan, Vidak
SENATE BUS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/27/15
AYES: Hill, Bates, Berryhill, Block, Galgiani, Hernandez,
Jackson, Mendoza, Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT: California Private Postsecondary Education Act of
2009
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: 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.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes, until January 1, 2017, 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
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Private Postsecondary Education (Bureau) within the Department
of Consumer Affairs (DCA). (Education Code § 94800-94950)
2)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) 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)
3)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)
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.
Comments
1)Need for the bill. Prior legislation, AB 2296 (Block, Chapter
585, Statutes of 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
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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.
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 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
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use "on-time graduates" in lieu of "graduates," for
calculating completion rates for each program.
c) License examination passage rates for the 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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified 5/11/15)
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: (Verified 5/11/15)
None received
Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105
5/14/15 8:33:02
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