BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 893 (Nguyen) - Postsecondary education: tuition and fees
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|Version: April 19, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: Yes |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: May 2, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill, an urgency measure, prohibits the Regents
of University of California (UC), the board of Directors of the
Hastings College of the Law, the Trustees of the California
State University (CSU), and the governing board of each
community college district from collecting systemwide tuition or
fees from an undergraduate student who is the surviving
dependent of any individual killed in the San Bernardino
terrorist attack on December 2, 2015, as specified.
Fiscal
Impact:
Unknown revenue loss to segments to waive fees for qualified
students. However, assuming a range of seven (half of the
victims having qualified dependents) to 28 (two qualified
dependents per victim) beneficiaries who are California
residents, costs would likely range from in the tens of
thousands to mid hundreds of thousands annually. Costs would
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vary depending upon the number of qualified dependents that
use the benefit provided in this bill and the segment they
attend. The revenue loss would result in a cost pressure to
the state to backfill the waived tuition and fees.
Assuming Cal Grant awards would not be paid out to the student
since the student would not be assessed fees, this bill could
result in unknown savings to the Cal Grant program. Net
increased cost pressure to the state would be the difference
between the Cal Grant that would have been awarded to the
student and the systemwide tuition and fees waived. See staff
comments. (General Fund or Proposition 98)
Additional unknown cost pressures to waive fees for students
affected by other future tragedies.
The Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board and the
California Student Aid Commission indicate that costs to
implement this bill are absorbable. (Restitution Fund and
General Fund)
Background: Existing law prohibits the UC, CSU and the California
Community Colleges (CCC) from charging tuition or fees to the
surviving spouse or child of a deceased law enforcement or fire
suppression personnel, as specified. Current law also prohibits
those institutions from charging mandatory systemwide tuition or
fees to the surviving dependent of any California resident
killed in the September 11, 2001 attack, as specified. The fee
waivers are limited to undergraduate students who meet the
specified financial need requirements. (Education Code § 68123
and EC § 76300)
Existing law also exempts certain CCC students from the fee
requirement, including students who meet specified income
thresholds and students who are the dependent or surviving
spouse of a California National Guard member killed or disabled
as a result of their service, as specified. (EC § 76300)
Existing law provides that statutes related to the UC (and most
other aspects of the governance and operation of the UC) are
applicable only to the extent that the Regents of UC make such
provisions applicable. (EC § 67400 and 68134)
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Proposed Law:
This bill, an urgency measure:
Prohibits any mandatory fees or tuition of any kind to be
required or collected by the UC Regents or the CSU Trustees
from a student who is an undergraduate program and who is the
surviving dependent of any individual killed in the terrorist
attack in San Bernardino on December 2, 2015, if he or she
meets the financial need requirements of the Cal Grant A
program and the surviving dependent, or the individual killed
in the attack, was a resident of California on this date.
Requires the California Victim Compensation and Government
Claims Board to identify all persons who are eligible for
tuition and fee waivers pursuant to this bill and notify them,
in writing, of their eligibility by July 1, 2017.
Requires the CSU, UC, and the governing board of each
community college district in the state to waive tuition and
fees pursuant to this bill, for any person who can demonstrate
eligibility. If requested by the CSU, UC, the Hastings
College of the Law, or a CCC, the California Victim
Compensation and Government Claims Board is required to
confirm the eligibility of persons requesting the waiver of
tuition and fees on a case-by-case basis.
Requires CCC fees to be waived for any student in an
undergraduate program, including a student who has previously
graduated from another undergraduate or graduate program, who
is the dependent of any individual killed in the terrorist
attack, as specified.
Requires fees to be waived for dependents who are the
surviving spouse of an individual killed in the terrorist
attack until January 1, 2027 and for dependents who are the
surviving child of an individual killed until that person
attains 30 years of age.
Provides that these provisions are applicable to the UC only
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if the Board of Regents by resolution, make them applicable.
Staff
Comments: According to the author's office, this bill ensures
that surviving dependents and spouses of the 14 victims of the
December 2, 2015 terror attack have the financial opportunity to
obtain an undergraduate education. The actual costs related to
this bill are unknown because it is unknown how many dependents
of the victims exist, how many will seek education at the
state's public postsecondary institutions, how many will attend
at each segment, and how many will qualify for waived fees
pursuant to this bill based on their income level.
Assuming a range of scenarios, a possible number of qualified
dependents could be between seven and 28. If they all went to
the UC at rate of $12,240 for residents, forgone revenue to the
University would range between $86,000 and $343,000 for one year
(up to $1.4 million for four years). If they all went to CSU at
a rate of $5,472 for residents, forgone revenue would range
between $38,000 and $153,000 (up to $918,000 over six years).
If the qualified students attend the CCC, there may be a
possibility that the Board of Governors (BOG) fee waiver would
cover the cost of student fees if the student met the income
eligibility. However, according to the CCC, the maximum income
criteria to be eligible for a Cal Grant A award is higher than
for the BOG fee waiver. Therefore, some students may be
eligible for their fees to be waived under this bill but could
also not qualify to receive a BOG fee waiver. If 10 students
fell into this category, costs would be about $14,000 per year
(or $28,000 for two years).
Staff notes that this bill allows for a surviving dependent to
qualify for tuition and fees to be waived if he or she is a
resident of California or if the individual killed in the attack
was a resident of California on the date of the attack. This
allows for the possibility that the surviving dependent is not a
resident of California. In this case, forgone revenue would be
larger than stated above since the fees waived would be at the
nonresident rate. For UC this would be just under $39,000 and
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for CSU around $17,000. The CCC has an average systemwide
nonresident tuition fee of $200.
As noted above, waiving student tuition and fee revenue at the
state's postsecondary institutions would result in a cost
pressure to backfill the lost revenue. Assuming Cal Grant
awards would not be paid to qualified students whose tuition and
fees are waived, this bill could also result in savings to the
Cal Grant program. The net cost pressure to the state would be
the difference between the Cal Grant award that would have been
awarded to the student without this bill, and the systemwide
tuition and fees waived pursuant to this bill.
Though this bill specifies that tuition and fees waivers be
applied to undergraduate programs, it also references the
Hastings College of the Law, which has student fees that are
significantly higher than undergraduate systemwide tuition and
fees mentioned above. According to the author's office, it is
not the intent of this bill to waive fees of students attending
the law school.
Recommended
Amendments: Delete references to the Hastings College of the
Law to conform to the intent of the author.
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