BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
2382 (Blumenfield)
Hearing Date: 08/02/2010 Amended: 07/15/2010
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 6-0
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BILL SUMMARY: This bill authorizes the California State
University (CSU) to award a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT),
establishes constraints on the funding and fees for these degree
programs, and requires their joint evaluation by the CSU,
Department of Finance (DOF) and the Legislative Analyst's Office
(LAO) by January 1, 2015, as specified.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
CSU/DPT New costs to convert Master's
General
level program to Doctorate,
offset by higher fees (see
analysis)
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STAFF COMMENTS:
Current law defines the primary mission of CSU as providing
undergraduate instruction and graduate instruction through the
master's degree level. Current law also provides that CSU may
offer doctoral programs jointly with the University of
California or independent postsecondary institutions with the
approval of the California Postsecondary Education Commission.
CSU is currently authorized to offer a Doctor of Education
degree focused on preparing administrative leaders for K-14
public schools.
According to the California Physical Therapy Association, a DPT
is a clinically based, professional doctoral degree, and as
such, is distinguished from doctoral degrees conferred by the UC
that are research or academically based. According to
information provided by the sponsor, the programs currently in
place at the CSU require no additional funding to convert to a
DPT and have the faculty, expertise, equipment and labs prepared
to train physical therapists at the doctoral level.
The Commission on Accreditation for Physical Therapy Education
(CAPTE), recognized by the United States Department of Education
(USDE) as the entity for accrediting entry-level physical
therapist and physical therapist assistant education programs,
revised its accreditation standards in 2009 to require the DPT
as the terminal degree instead of the Master's degree, requiring
PT Master's degree programs to convert to DPT programs by
December 30, 2015. Programs that do not meet this criterion by
that date will be required to come into compliance no later than
December 31, 2017, or lose accreditation. Prospective PTs must
have graduated from a CAPTE-accredited program in order to sit
for the National Physical Therapy Examination, which is required
for licensure.
Page 2
AB 2382 (Blumenfield)
CSU's Master's degree programs in audiology faced a similar
situation a few years ago when the national accrediting body for
audiology increased the terminal degree requirement to the
doctorate. As a result, CSU's audiology programs lost
accreditation and are no longer offered. The Legislature
appears to face a similar choice with regard to Physical
Therapy. Should the state allow private professional
association dictate what programs to offer?
Of the 14 physical therapy education programs within California,
nine are offered by private institutions, culminate in a DPT and
range in cost from about $73,000 to $122,000. Of the five
programs offered by public institutions, only the UCSF/SFSU
Joint program offers a DPT and CSU Fresno, CSU Long Beach, CSU
Northridge and CSU Sacramento offer a masters degree and range
in cost from $15,000-$38,000.
While doctorate programs are more costly to operate than
master's level programs, CSU believes that the costs will be
offset by fee increases. The bill would permit students in a
CSU DPT to be charged fees no higher than those charged for
students other state-supported DPY programs at UC, including
those offered jointly by CSU and UC. Since the master's level
programs already exist, CSU contends that conversion costs would
be minimal. The programs would need to add a few new faculty
positions and develop curricula. Assuming annual fees of
$14,500 student (similar to fees charged for the EdD program),
CSU estimates average per campus revenues will grow $773,000
while costs will only increase by $343,000.
The bill also requires CSU, the Department of Finance, and the
Legislative Analyst's Office to conduct a joint evaluation of
the new programs, to be reported by January 1, 2015. The
evaluation would consider the number of new programs created,
the extent to which the programs are fulfilling needs for PTs,
information on the subsequent job placements of students,
program costs and fund sources used to finance the programs, and
the cost for students. Costs to complete the evaluation should
be minor.
AB 867 (Nava, 2009) would authorize CSU to award a Doctor of
Nursing Practice degree. That bill was held on this committee's
suspense file.