BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1440
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Date of Hearing: August 12, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1440 (Padilla) - As Amended: August 4, 2010
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill establishes an associate degree for transfer from the
California Community Colleges (CCC) to the California State
University (CSU). Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires community college districts, as a condition of
receiving state apportionment funds, to develop and grant,
commencing with the 2011-12 academic year, an associate degree
for transfer, which deems a student eligible for transfer to a
CSU baccalaureate program when a student meets the following
requirements:
a) Completion of 60 semester units, including established
general education requirements and a minimum of 18 semester
units in a major or area of emphasis.
b) A grade point average of at least 2.0.
2)Requires CSU to guarantee admission, with upper division
status, to any CCC student meeting the above requirements.
Stipulates that admission is not guaranteed to a specific
major or campus, but requires CSU to grant priority in
admission to the student's local CSU campus and to a program
or major similar to the student's community college major or
area of emphasis, as determined by the CSU campus providing
admission.
3)States that CCC students admitted per the above shall receive
priority over all other CCC transfer students except those who
entered into a CCC/CSU transfer agreement prior to fall 2012.
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4)States that CSU may only require a student transferring
pursuant to the above to take up to 60 additional semester
units for majors requiring 120 units, and exempts specified
high unit majors from this requirement upon agreement of the
CCC/CSU Chancellors and both systems' academic senates.
5)States that community college transfer units do not apply to
CSU upper division requirements unless agreed to by the local
academic Senates of the CSU and CCC and are within the 60-unit
cap.
6)States legislative intent that the community colleges carry
out the activities required above within the normal course of
program development and approval, course scheduling, and
degree issuance.
7)Requires the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) to review and
report to the Legislature:
a) By the spring of 2012 on the implementation of the above
provisions.
b) Within four years of implementation on the outcomes of
implementation, as specified, and recommendations for any
statutory changes needed to facilitate a clear and
transparent transfer process, including whether the above
should be made applicable to transfer from the CCC to the
University of California.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Though the bill states legislative intent that implementation
by districts is to be within the normal course of ongoing
activities, the requirement to implement less than one year
following enactment (fall 2011), and to do so as a condition
of receiving state apportionments, could compel many districts
and campuses to devote additional, one-time resources to this
effort. These costs are unknown, but at just $10,000 to
$20,000 per campus, total General Fund (Proposition 98) costs
would be around $1 million to $2 million.
2)To the extent this bill leads to transfer students, on
average, taking fewer units at CSU and the community colleges
in completing their degree requirements, savings to each
segment would be in the tens of millions of dollars annually.
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(Approximately 50,000 students transfer from community
colleges to the CSU each year.) This represents monies that
would be "freed up" to provide access to other CSU/CCC
students. Over time, the bill is also likely to provide
administrative savings by streamlining the articulation of CCC
students to CSU.
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. 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 CCC. A separate study found that CCC
transfer students earn an average of 75 CCC units. Numerous
entities have called for the streamlining of the transfer
process, including the LAO and the Institute for Higher
Education Leadership and Policy (IHELP).
CCC students who wish to transfer to a UC or CSU campus
typically take a set of general education courses (about 40
units), courses related to their major interest (6-8 units),
and electives or local degree requirements, which together
constitute lower division preparation. UC, CSU, and CCC are
required to maintain a common core curriculum for general
education for the purposes of transfer but not for major
preparation. Each major at each UC campus has its own set of
major preparation requirements, and while CSU has established
common major preparation requirements for high demand majors,
CSU can require additional pre-major courses that differ by
campus.
2)Purpose . According to the author, current law does not require
alignment between CCC and CSU, required coursework for
transfer can vary widely from campus to campus, and students
seeking transfer can become confused, frustrated, and
discouraged. This bill aims to increase the number of students
who successfully transfer from the CCC to CSU by streamlining
the transfer process, specifically by requiring CCC districts
to establish an associate degrees for transfer, guaranteeing
that such students are admitted to CSU with junior status, and
establishing course unit limits on most majors in order to
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reduce unnecessary, excess coursework.
3)Suggested Amendment . In order to allow districts additional
time to implement the transfer degree program within existing
resources, the bill should be amended to instead require
implementation in fall 2012-13.
4)Related Legislation . AB 2302 (Fong), a similar bill, is
pending in Senate Appropriations.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081