BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2462
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 16, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2462 (Block) - As Amended: May 10, 2012
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:9-0
Veterans Affairs 8-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill:
1)Requires the Chancellor's Office of the California Community
Colleges (CCC), by July 1, 2013, by use of common course
descriptors and recommendations of the American Council on
Education (ACE), to determine which community college courses
veterans should be awarded credit for, based on prior military
experience.
2)Encourages community college districts to award credit to
veterans for prior military experience, including applying the
determinations made by the Chancellor's Office per (1).
FISCAL EFFECT
One-time minor absorbable costs to the Chancellor's Office.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . In February, the Assembly Higher Education and
Assembly Veterans Affairs Committees held a joint oversight
hearing on the challenges facing California student veterans.
Several students and representatives from the higher education
institutions spoke for the need for more resources for
veterans' services, including more transition assistance,
improving outreach and campus-based programs, and easing the
matriculation of prior military learning. According to the
author, it is unclear to whether CCCs are equally evaluating
prior military service as it relates to academic credit. This
AB 2462
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bill requires the Chancellor's Office to matching CCC common
course descriptors with the ACE Guide standards. It is
expected that this exercise will facilitate more districts
providing academic credit to veterans for their relevant
military training.
2)Background . The military issues academic transcripts for
active-duty service members and veterans. The transcripts
issued by the various service branches are endorsed and
periodically evaluated by ACE, which also provides
recommendations to colleges for evaluating these transcripts.
The ACE Guide's credit transfer recommendations are based on
reviews of military coursework by a panel of university
faculty members convened by ACE. These faculty members review
military coursework and occupational training descriptions
pertaining to their own academic disciplines, evaluating them
according to disciplinary standards and expectations. In
spring 2011, the CCC statewide Academic Senate passed a
resolution urging local senates to apply credit for
educational experiences during military service toward the
associate degree in accordance with the recommendations listed
in the ACE Guide.
Determinations of academic credit for prior military learning
experiences are made at each community college campus, and it
appears that the application of prior learning credit is
uneven. Forty-six colleges are currently members of the
Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Consortium, which requires
member institutions to provide credit for military training
and experience, including use of the ACE Guide in such
evaluations.
3)Prior Legislation . AB 372 (Hernandez), which mandated that
community colleges assess prior college-level learning gained
during military services, was held on Suspense in Senate
Appropriations.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081