BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2752
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
AB 2752 (Blakeslee) - As Amended: April 8, 2010
SUBJECT : Public postsecondary education: transfer
requirements.
SUMMARY : Requires the California State University (CSU) to
develop a lower division common core curriculum comprised of 60
units instead of 45 units, as specified. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Codifies legislative intent about the need to streamline the
transfer function for economic and budgetary reasons.
2)Requires the Chancellor of the California State University
(CSU), in consultation with the CSU Academic Senate and
faculty responsible for each high-demand baccalaureate degree
program, to develop a systemwide lower division common core
curriculum comprised of 60 units instead of 45 units, as
specified, that will be common across all CSU campuses.
3)Prevents a CSU campus from imposing any additional
non-elective lower division course requirements for transfer
students in high-demand baccalaureate degree major programs.
4)Deletes the requirement that each CSU campus identify
campus-specific requirements beyond the system-wide lower
division transfer curriculum requirements.
5)Make various technical changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)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.
2)Specifies 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.
AB 2752
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Background : According to the Institute for Higher
Education Leadership & Policy in its report entitled, "Crafting
a Student-Center Transfer Process: Lessons from Other States"
(August 2009), a CSU study found that transfer students
graduated with an average of 141 semester units (120 units is
usually needed to graduate). The excess units resulted from
course-taking actions at both CSU and the California Community
Colleges (CCC) with transfer students arriving at CSU with an
average of 75 CCC credits and graduating from CSU with an
average of 76 credits. In a University of California (UC)
study, students reported that excess units taken at CCC before
transfer were related to exploring various fields, changing
majors, poor advising, and preparing for multiple universities
with different admissions requirements.
Lower Division Transfer Pattern (LDTP) : Recent legislation [SB
1785 (Scott), Chapter 734, Statutes of 2004] established the CSU
LDTP, which required CSU to specify a systemwide lower division
transfer pattern for each high-demand baccalaureate program,
comprised of at least 45 semester units to be common across all
CSU campuses offering specific major programs and must include
the following:
1)General education courses;
2)Any other lower division courses required for graduation;
3)Lower division components of a student's declared major; and,
4)Elective units, as appropriate.
The LDTP also requires each CSU campus to identify any
additional specific, non-elective course requirements beyond the
lower division transfer curriculum for each major, up to a
maximum of 60 semester units for the systemwide and
campus-specific requirements combined.
Rationale for the 45/15 course pattern : This approach allowed
CSU to develop a lower division common core curriculum, while
providing faculty the opportunity to require additional classes
to enhance the student's preparation for his or her chosen
major. However, in a June 2006 report, the Legislative
Analyst's Office argued that allowing additional pre-major
requirements that differ by campus does not ensure a truly
"common" curriculum and unnecessarily complicates the process.
AB 2752
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Purpose of this bill : According to the author, this bill will
streamline the transfer process, especially for those students
who do not know to which campus they want to transfer or decide
on a different campus late in their CCC studies. By allowing
CSU campuses to require 15 campus-specific units, it limits
students' flexibility and may require them to take additional
units and delay their time to transfer, especially if they must
take the required campuses at different CCCs due to
availability.
Related legislation : AB 2302 (Fong), set for hearing in this
Committee on April 20, would require CSU and CCC, and request
UC, to develop a common core curriculum for major preparation,
to develop transfer agreements and to establish transfer degree
programs that would guarantee transfer to the UC and CSU systems
and an associate degree in transfer. SB 1440 (Padilla), pending
hearing the Senate Education Committee, would authorize CCCs to
grant an associate degree in the student's field of study, that
is designated as being "for transfer," to a student who
completes 60 transferable semester units or 27 quarter units, as
specified, and meets the minimum requirements for transfer to a
public university or alternative path to transfer program.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960