BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2451
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 4, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
AB 2451 (Furutani) - As Amended: April 8, 2010
SUBJECT : Community colleges: transfer course requirements:
report.
SUMMARY : Requires the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) to
produce a report evaluating course alignment in the California
Community Colleges (CCC) and the differing course requirements
for transfer to the California State University (CSU) and
University of California (UC) and requires the report to be
submitted, pursuant to existing law requirements, to the
Legislature on or before July 1, 2011.
EXISTING LAW specifies that the transfer function be a central
institutional priority of all segments of higher education in
California and that the segments develop policy and practices to
support this priority; and requires that the segments of higher
education develop transfer agreements that specify the
requirements a CCC student must meet to transfer to the public
four-year segments of higher education.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by
Legislative Counsel; however, the Assembly Appropriations
Committee has requested to hear this bill.
COMMENTS : Background : The rate of student transfer has
generally increased over the past 15 years; however, the
transfer process is widely regarded as complex, confusing, and
inefficient. Numerous entities have called for the streamlining
of the transfer process, including the LAO and the Institute for
Higher Education Leadership and Policy (IHELP). IHELP reports
that 73% of California undergraduates attend CCC; however, of
the 1999-2000 student cohort who identified a degree as their
goal, only 25% transferred to a four-year institution within six
years. At the same time, recent studies indicate that
California must increase the number of residents with advanced
degrees in order to sustain its economic competitiveness. In
2006-07, CCC transferred nearly 99,000 students to four-year
institutions: 54,391 to CSU, 14,000 to UC, 18,752 to California
private institutions, and 11,825 to out-of-state institutions.
AB 2451
Page 2
Purpose of this bill : This bill would require the LAO report to
the Legislature by July 1, 2011, on course alignment in CCC and
the differing course requirements for transfer to CSU and UC.
As mentioned in this analysis, the LAO has previously evaluated
and reported on the issue of transfer. In the January 2006
report, Promoting Access to Higher Education: A Review of the
State's Transfer Process, the LAO reviews current transfer
admission policies and identifies institutional barriers that
can make the transfer process difficult for qualified students.
Other efforts : There are several bills pending in the
Legislature that would implement many of the recommendations
from IHELP and LAO. AB 2302 (Fong), approved by this Committee
on April 20, would require CSU and CCC, and requests UC, to
develop a common core curriculum for major preparation, to
develop transfer agreements and to establish transfer degree
programs that would guarantee an associate degree and transfer
to the UC and CSU systems. AB 2752 (Blakeslee), also approved
by this Committee on April 20, would require CSU to develop a
common curriculum for lower division preparation that precludes
a campus from requiring nonelectives outside the common core
curriculum. SB 1440 (Padilla), pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee, would authorize CCCs to grant an
associate degree in the student's field of study that is
designated as being "for transfer".
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on File
Opposition
None on File
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960