BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 2427 (Butler) - California State University: Special Session
Fees.
Amended: August 6, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 7-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 6, 2012
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2427 requires the California State University
(CSU), beginning on July 1, 2014 and until January 1, 2019, to
annually report to the Legislature on its Extended and
Continuing Education Program (ECEP), as specified, and requires
the Trustees to publicly notice, hear, and approve any changes
to special session fees.
Fiscal Impact: The CSU does not currently collect the
information required by this bill.
Data/IT: $400,000 to establish data systems to collect and
track information.
CSU workload: Potentially significant ongoing workload to
manage new data system, and to provide additional IT support
to campuses. CSU may require 1 PY to manage the project, as
well as administrative support. Increased data entry and
coordination workload on each campus.
Background: Existing law prohibits summer session fees at UC and
CSU from exceeding the fees charged per credit unit for any
other academic term, contingent upon the state's provision of
funding to offset any revenue losses that may occur due to the
difference between the state university fee and fees charged for
self-supporting academic programs. Current law also requires
both systems to annually report (by January 10th) a description
of summer enrollment for their respective systems and specifies
the information to be reported including a description of their
respective efforts to increase summer enrollment. (Education
Code � 66057)
Existing law authorizes the CSU to require and collect tuition
fees from students enrolled in each special session adequate in
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the long run, to meet the cost of maintaining special sessions
pursuant to rules and regulations prescribed by the Trustees.
"Special sessions" at the CSU are defined to include, but not be
limited to, career enrichment and retraining programs. (EC �
89708)
Proposed Law: AB 2427 requires the CSU to annually report to the
Legislature on the CSU Extended and Continuing Education Program
specified information on the courses, and students enrolled in
these courses, systemwide and campus-by- campus that includes:
1) Number of students enrolled.
2) Number of resident undergraduate students concurrently
enrolled in state-funded courses at the CSU and the ECEP.
3) Number of special session undergraduate (degree credit)
courses and units offered.
4) Number of course sections and units, organized by subject
area, offered.
5) Range of fees charged for each undergraduate course offered.
6) To the extent possible, a five-year trend for the information
provided for each course.
This bill's reporting requirement sunsets on January 1, 2019. It
further requires that information on special session programs
and fees be annually reported to the Board of Trustees at a
publicly noticed meeting.
Staff Comments: The CSU has indicated it would need significant
resources to create a comprehensive enrollment system that
isolates the required records, and to implement the new system
on each campus. Currently, the ECEP does not count its students
and units in the same way the state-supported CSU programming
does. For example, the ECEP counts the number of course
registrations, rather than individual students.
The CSU envisions creating an integrated data system that counts
enrollments in degree credit courses and non-degree courses in
the same way, with each type of course organized as required by
the bill. The CSU estimates that establishing the system would
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cost $400,000, and would require additional work to roll out the
system to campuses, and to manage the data.
After the actual data system is created, there will likely be
significant short-term workload to manage the system and train
campuses on its use and the CSU's expectation for the data. To
the extent that a system is established that automates and
organizes the actual data reporting process, the ongoing
workload is likely to be minor on the respective campuses.
System-wide, the CSU may require 1 PY to ensure the proper data
is being collected, and to support campuses as needed.