Amended in Assembly May 1, 2014

Amended in Assembly April 1, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2092

Introduced by Assembly Member Chávez

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Olsen)

February 20, 2014

An act to add Section 66011.3 to the Education Code, relating to public postsecondary education.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2092, as amended, Chávez. Postsecondary education: Donahoe Higher Education Act: 4-year baccalaureate degree.

Existing law, known as the Donahoe Higher Education Act, sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California’s public and independent segments of higher education, and their respective begin delete institutions of higher education end delete begin insert campuses end insert . The public segments of higher education include the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California.

This bill would require the Trustees of the California State University, and request the Regents of the University of California, to offer eligible students of their respective segments an agreement guaranteeing that a student who meets certain conditions may complete a baccalaureate degree within 4 academic years, with the exception of certain programs that may require up to 5 academic years to complete. The bill would specify that a student who scores in an unspecified percentile, or above, on a standardized college readiness assessment would be presumed to be eligible to enter into an agreement under the bill. The bill would require the agreement to outline a general pathway for the coursework that the student must complete in order to continue to be qualified for the guarantee and receive his or her baccalaureate within the agreed-upon time.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

Section 66011.3 is added to the Education Code,
to read:

66011.3.  

(a) The Trustees of the California State University
shall, and the Regents of the University of California are requested
to, offer eligible students of their respective segments an agreement
guaranteeing that a student who meets certain conditions may
complete a baccalaureate degree within four academic years. begin delete An
institution may end delete begin insert A campus may, in accordance with policies adopted
by the trustees or the regents, as applicable end insert begin insert , end insert provide for a longer
period for programs such as engineering or teacher training that
may require more than four academic years to complete, but under
no circumstances may the time to baccalaureate degree agreed to
under this section be extended beyond five academic years.

(b) An agreement entered into under this section shall comply
with all of the following:

(1) A student who scores in the ____ percentile or above on any
standardized college readiness assessment test, such as the
Scholastic Aptitude Test, ACT, or any other widely administered
college readiness examination, shall be presumed to be eligible to
enter into the agreement. A student who scores below the top ____
percentile, but above the ____ percentile may take another test of
the begin delete institution’s end delete begin insert campus’s end insert choice, and the begin delete institution end delete begin insert campus end insert shall
establish a cut-off score for eligibility for the program pursuant to
that test.

(2) The agreement shall be executed by a student and an
authorized representative of the begin delete institution end delete begin insert campus end insert before the end
of the student’s first semester or quarter of enrollment at the
begin delete institution end delete begin insert campus end insert .

(3) The agreement shall outline a general pathway for the
coursework that the student must complete in order to continue to
be qualified for the guarantee and receive his or her baccalaureate
within the agreed-upon time.

begin delete

(4) The student shall not be required to declare a major field
until the spring semester or quarter of the student’s sophomore
year.

end delete

begin insert (4) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Each campus shall, in accordance with policies adopted
by the trustees or the regents, as applicable, determine the latest
possible time for a participating student enrolled in a
four-academic-year degree program, or a degree program that
may require up to five academic years to complete pursuant to
subdivision (a), to declare a major, but the campus shall require
a participating student to declare his or her major no later than
the fall semester or quarter, as applicable, of his or her sophomore
yea end insert begin insert r. end insert

(5) The student shall be required to be a full-time student and
maintain academic standards equivalent to those required pursuant
to Article 1 (commencing with Section 69430) of Chapter 1.7 of
Part 42 for receipt of Cal Grant awards.

(6) A student may also be required to attend orientation sessions
and student success workshops in order to remain eligible for the
guarantee.

(7) A student who executes an agreement under this section
shall be granted priority for enrollment for each course that is part
of the general pathway outlined as part of the agreement pursuant
to paragraph (3).

(8) A student who meets all of the requirements of the agreement
and, through no fault of his or her own, is unable to complete his
or her baccalaureate degree within the guaranteed period shall pay
no tuition to take the additional coursework required to complete
that degree.

begin insert

(c) For purposes of this section, “campus” means a campus of
the California State University or the University of California, as
applicable.

end insert