BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
669 (Fong)
Hearing Date: 07/13/2009 Amended: As Introduced
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 9-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 669 would entitle entering students 19 years
of age and younger who were wards of the state or who were
served by California's child welfare system to be classified as
residents for tuition purposes until they have resided in the
state for the minimum time needed to become residents.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Residency classification Range of $30 to $120,
General*
depending on eligibility
*Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding
guarantee
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill may meet the criteria for referral to
the Suspense File.
Under current law, students must have resided in California for
at least one year and one day immediately prior to a date
established by the segments to determine residency for a given
term, semester, or quarter in order to be considered a
California resident for tuition purposes at the University of
California (UC), the California State University (CSU), or the
California Community Colleges (CCC).
Another path to residency is provided by AB 540 (Firebaugh),
Chapter 814, Statutes of 2001, which exempts specified
nonresidents of California from paying nonresident tuition if
they attended a California high school for three or more years,
as specified. Current law also provides various exemptions to
the residency requirements relating to military service, amateur
athletes engaging in Olympic training in Chula Vista, Native
Americans attending Bureau of Indian Affairs-administered
schools, students under the care of an adult who is not a
parent, and others.
In most cases, students' residency extends from their parents.
This can problematic for current or former foster youth whose
parents no longer reside in California or whose whereabouts are
unknown. While some exemptions exist by which foster youth may
be able to establish residency, the trail of documentation is
often difficult to piece together. This bill is intended to
ease access to college for foster youth by entitling all current
or former wards of the state through California's child welfare
system to resident tuition and fees.
As students attending UC and CSU have high school diplomas,
generally, the provisions of AB 540 apply, which would already
entitle students in this situation to
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AB 669 (Fong)
resident classification. Therefore, the impact of this bill is
most likely to be felt at the California Community Colleges, as
students may enroll at the CCC without a diploma.
Currently, resident fees at CCC are $20 per unit, while
nonresident fees average $190 per unit. As nonresidents,
current or former foster youth in these circumstances are not
eligible for Cal Grants or for fee waivers granted by the Board
of Governors. Given the lack of resources of most foster youth,
it is not likely that many would enroll for classes if faced
with costs of $190 per unit, especially when delaying enrollment
for one year would entitle them to the lower fee and/or a fee
waiver. The most likely fiscal impact of this bill would be for
the awarding of fee waivers as a result of providing these
students with resident classification.
As there is no clear data available to pinpoint the number of
students affected, the costs of this bill are difficult to
estimate. The CCC served approximately 6,000 self-identified
foster youth in the 2007-08 fiscal year. The population
relevant to this bill would be only a fraction of that figure -
those 19 or younger without a high school diploma that cannot
establish residency of at least one year. A fee waiver
(generally backfilled by the General Fund) for a student taking
30 units of coursework in a year would cost the state $600. As
illustrative examples, for every 50 students that would receive
a fee waiver to the resident classification provided by this
bill, the state cost exposure would be $30,000. For every 100
students the costs would be $60,000. For very 200 costs would
be $120,000. In the absence of more precise data, the actual
costs of the bill are indeterminable.