Amended in Senate June 17, 2014

Amended in Senate May 23, 2014

Amended in Assembly January 23, 2014

Amended in Assembly January 9, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 330

Introduced by Assembly Member Chau

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Wieckowski)

February 13, 2013

An act to amend Sections begin delete 69433.2, 94910, and 94929.5 end delete begin insert 69433.2 and 94878 end insert of the Education Code, relating to student financial aid.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 330, as amended, Chau. Student financial begin delete aid: disclosures. end delete begin insert aid: information. end insert

(1) Existing law establishes the Cal Grant Program under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under the program for participating students attending qualifying institutions. As a condition for participation in the program, existing law requires each Cal Grant participating institution to annually report specified information to the commission, which the commission is required to provide on its Internet Web site in a searchable database.

This bill would include begin delete license examination passage rates, the institution’s latest 3-year cohort default rate, the institution’s percentage of undergraduate student borrowers, and certain other student loan debt information concerning first-time degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduate students of the institution end delete begin insert links to specified Internet Web sites providing data relating to college affordability and related topics, posted in a conspicuous location, end insert in the information that begin delete a participating institution is required to report and end delete the commission is required to provide on its Internet Web site.

(2) Existing law, the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009, which is repealed pursuant to its own provisions on January 1, 2015, provides, among other things, for student protections and regulatory oversight of private postsecondary schools in the state. The act is enforced by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act begin delete exempts specified institutions from all, or a portion of, its provisions. The act requires an institution to provide a prospective student prior to enrollment with a School Performance Fact Sheet, which is required to contain specified information relating to the educational program end delete begin insert requires the bureau, among other duties, to establish an Internet Web site that includes specified information end insert .

This bill would require the begin delete School Performance Fact Sheet to also include certain student loan debt information concerning first-time degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduate students of the institution who have entered into student loans, as specified, while attending the institution end delete begin insert bureau to post, in a conspicuous location on its Internet Web site, links to specified Internet Web sites providing data relating to college affordability and related topics end insert .

These provisions concerning the begin delete School Performance Fact Sheet end delete begin insert bureau’s Internet Web site end insert would become operative only if an act that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2015, delays or eliminates the January 1, 2015, repeal date of the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 69433.2 of the end insert begin insert Education Code end insert begin insert is amended
to read: end insert

69433.2.  

(a) As a condition for its voluntary participation in
the Cal Grant Program, each Cal Grant participating institution
shall, beginning in 2012, annually report to the commission, and
as further specified in the institutional participation agreement,
both of the following for its undergraduate programs:

(1) Enrollment, persistence, and graduation data for all students,
including aggregate information on Cal Grant recipients.

(2) The job placement rate and salary and wage information for
each program that is either designed or advertised to lead to a
particular type of job or advertised or promoted with a claim
regarding job placement.

(b) Commencing the year after the commission begins to receive
reports pursuant to subdivision (a), the commission shall begin delete provide
both end delete begin insert clearly post, in a conspicuous location, all end insert of the following
on its Internet Web site:

(1) The information submitted by a Cal Grant participating
institution pursuant to subdivision (a), which shall be made
available in a searchable database.

(2) Other information and links that are useful to students and
parents who are in the process of selecting a college or university.
This information may include, but not be limited to, local
occupational profiles available through the Employment
Development Department’s Labor Market Information Data
Library.

begin insert

(3) Links to the Internet Web sites of all of the following:

end insert begin insert

(A) The College Affordability and Transparency Center of the
United States Department of Education or any successor entity.

end insert begin insert

(B) The National Center for Higher Education Management
Systems or any successor entity.

end insert begin insert

(C) Any entity deemed by the commission to provide accurate
and useful information relating to institutional net cost, financial
aid, or student loan debt that can be used by students and families
to evaluate postsecondary educational options.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 94878 of the end insert begin insert Education Code end insert begin insert is amended to
read: end insert

94878.  

(a) On or before June 30, 2010, the bureau shall
establish an Internet Web site that includes at least all of the
following information:

(1) An explanation of the bureau’s transition plan for the
reconstituted bureau and an explanation of the bureau’s scope of
authority.

(2) (A) A directory of approved institutions, and a link, if
feasible, to the Internet Web site of each institution.

(B) For each institution, the directory shall be developed in a
manner that allows the user to search by institution and shall
include all of the following information:

(i) The status of the institution’s approval to operate.

(ii) The information provided by the institutions including, but
not limited to, the annual report, as required by Section 94934,
including the school catalog and the Student Performance Fact
Sheet. The Student Performance Fact Sheet shall be maintained
on the directory for at least five years after the date of its
submission to the bureau.

(iii) The disciplinary history of the institution, which shall
include, but shall not be limited to, all of the following:

(I) Pending formal accusations filed by the bureau.

(II) Suspensions, revocations, citations, fines, infractions,
probations, pending litigation filed by the bureau, and final
judgments resulting from litigation filed by the bureau.

(III) Pending or final criminal cases filed by the Attorney
General, a city attorney, a district attorney, or a federal law
enforcement official, of which the bureau has received notice.

(IV) Final administrative actions by the United State Department
of Education, including orders requiring restitution to students.

(V) Final disciplinary actions by an accreditation agency, of
which the bureau has received notice pursuant to Section 94934.

(b) The bureau shall maintain the Internet Web site described
in subdivision (a). The bureau shall ensure that the information
specified in subdivision (a) is kept current. The bureau shall update
the Internet Web site at least annually, to coincide with the
submission of annual reports by the institutions pursuant to Section
94934.

(c) In addition to maintaining the Internet Web site described
in subdivision (a), the bureau shall provide the information
described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) to the California
Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC), and the CPEC
shall include that information in an Internet Web site directory of
school performance data maintained by the CPEC. To the extent
possible, the bureau shall provide this information consistent with
the information collected for reporting to the Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System of the United States
Department of Education, including institutional characteristics,
completion, annual enrollment, and graduation rates.

begin insert

(d) As part of the Internet Web site described in subdivision (a),
the bureau shall clearly post, in a conspicuous location, links to
the Internet Web sites of the following:

end insert begin insert

(1) The College Affordability and Transparency Center of the
United States Department of Education or any successor entity.

end insert begin insert

(2) The National Center for Higher Education Management
Systems or any successor entity.

end insert begin insert

(3) Any entity deemed by the bureau to provide accurate and
useful information relating to institutional net cost, financial aid,
or student loan debt that can be used by students and families to
evaluate postsecondary educational options.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 3. end insert   

end insert begin insert

Section 2 of this act shall become operative only if an
act that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2015, amends
or repeals Section 94950 of the Education Code to delay or
eliminate the January 1, 2015, repeal date of the California Private
Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 (Chapter 8 (commencing
with Section 94800) of Part 59 of Division 10 of Title 3 of the
Education Code).

end insert

All matter omitted in this version of the bill appears in the bill as amended in the Senate, May 23, 2014. (JR11)