BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2427
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 17, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
AB 2427 (Butler) - As Introduced: February 24, 2012
SUBJECT : California State University: special session fees.
SUMMARY : Prohibits special session fees for courses at the
California State University (CSU) offered to matriculated
students for credit towards an undergraduate, graduate degree,
or doctoral degree from exceeding fees charged per credit unit
for any other academic term.
EXISTING LAW establishes CSU, under the administration of the
CSU Board of Trustees, and requires certain fees to be required
of and collected from students enrolled in each special session,
pursuant to the rules and regulations prescribed by the CSU
Board of Trustees. (Education Code � 66600, 89708)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Background . Before the recent budget cuts, the
state provided funds to CSU to subsidize summer enrollment in an
effort to encourage students to attend year round to better
utilize facilities and speed time to graduation. To accommodate
significant budget reductions, CSU has, among other measures,
limited student enrollment, increased class sizes, increased
tuition, and moved summer instruction to self-support, as this
term is not mandatory and its enrollment is significantly lower
than the regular academic year.
What is a special session ? Governed by CSU Executive Order
1047, special sessions are offered as part of CSU's Extended
Education to CSU students who are enrolled during the academic
year on a self-support basis in locations that are not supported
by state funds. Existing law prohibits special sessions from
supplanting regular course offerings available on a
state-supported basis during the academic year. Faculty who
teach special session courses are compensated consistent with
the terms of their collective bargaining agreement.
For a related group of courses or an entire program that leads
to a degree, credential or certificate to be offered under
special session, both of the following conditions must be met.
AB 2427
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For individual special sessions courses offered through
self-support during summer sessions or intersessions, only the
first criteria must be met.
1)State General Fund appropriations to support the program must
be either unavailable or inappropriate.
2)The courses or program must be different from approved,
state-supported programs operating on campus by one or more of
the following:
a) The courses or program is designed primarily for career
enrichment or retraining as defined in existing law.
b) The location of the courses or program offerings is
significantly removed from permanent, state-supported
campus facilities.
c) The client group for the courses or program receives
educational or other services at a cost beyond what could
be reasonably provided under state support.
According to a September 2010 report to the CSU Board of
Trustees, 149 special session degree programs are offered in
special sessions in fields such as business, healthcare,
nursing, biotechnology, criminal justice, and education,
enrolling 16,115 annual full time equivalent students in 2008-09
in credit courses. The report notes that there has been a
steady growth in special session degrees, with an approximate
50% increase in degree program registrations between 2007-08 and
2008-09. Most of the growth has been at the master's degree
level in the fields listed above. Cal Grants and CSU
institutional aid may not be used for special session courses.
Unintended consequences . Since special sessions fees reflect
the full cost of the course, they are higher than the
state-subsidized regular session fee. Thus, if fees do not
cover the cost of the program, will this bill inadvertently
result in fewer special session offerings for students,
eliminating an option that students may wish to use to speed
their time to degree?
Arguments in support . This bill's sponsor, the California
Faculty Association, states that regularly enrolled students are
taking longer to graduate because budget cuts have resulted in
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reduced course offerings. Since most financial aid programs are
not available for courses outside the regular academic year,
matriculated CSU students should be able to take the courses
required in their program of study during special sessions at
the same cost as the regular state-supported CSU sessions.
Arguments in opposition . CSU states that, if it were prohibited
from operating summer sessions as a self-supporting enterprise,
it would no longer offer summer instruction, reducing the
opportunity for matriculated students to speed their time to
graduation and for non-matriculated students, including working
professionals, to pursue advanced degrees.
Related legislation . AB 515 (Brownley, 2011), pending in the
Senate Education Committee, would authorize California Community
College (CCC) districts to offer self-supporting extension
programs for credit. SB 1550 (Wright), pending in the Senate,
would authorize CCC districts to offer extension programs for
credit in career technical education courses. SB 1011
(Calderon, 2010), which was never heard in the Senate, would
have prohibited summer session fees from exceeding the fees
charged per credit unit for any other academic term, except for
courses taken solely for the purpose of career enhancement or
job retraining.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Faculty Association
Opposition
California State University
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960