BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2752
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 12, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2752 (Blakeslee) - As Amended: April 8, 2010
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California State University (CSU) to
develop a lower division common core curriculum comprised of 60
units instead of 45 units per current law. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Requires the CSU Chancellor, 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 that will be common across all CSU campuses.
2)Prohibits a CSU campus from imposing any additional
non-elective lower division course requirements for transfer
students in high-demand baccalaureate degree major programs.
3)Deletes the requirement that each CSU campus identify
campus-specific requirements beyond the systemwide lower
division transfer curriculum requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)One-time General Fund costs of about $300,000 for CSU to
develop the additional requirements for a 60-unit core
curriculum in 20 disciplines and minor ongoing costs. The
California Community Colleges (CCC) would incur somewhat
lesser costs to coordinate with the CSU.
2)Potential significant long-term savings to the extent the new
transfer mechanism results in students graduating with fewer
total credits.
AB 2752
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COMMENTS
1)Background . While the rate of student transfer has generally
increased over the past 15 years, the transfer process is
widely regarded as complex, confusing, and inefficient.
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 CCC. A separate study found that
CCC transfer student earn an average of 75 CCC units. 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.
SB 1785 (Scott)/Chapter 734 of 2004 established the CSU Lower
Division Transfer Patter (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. 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. 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.
2)Purpose . According to the author, AB 2752 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. Allowing CSU
campuses to require 15 campus-specific units, as discussed
above, limits students' flexibility and may require them to
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take additional units and delay their time to transfer,
especially if they must take the required campuses at
different CCCs due to availability.
3)Related Legislation . AB 2302 (Fong), also on today's
committee agenda, requires 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 transfer to the UC and CSU
systems and an associate degree in transfer.
SB 1440 (Padilla), pending in Senate Appropriations,
authorizes CCCs to grant an associate degree in the student's
field of study that is designated as being "for transfer".
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081