Amended in Assembly April 24, 2014

Amended in Assembly April 10, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2099

Introduced by Assembly Member Frazier

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Medina and Williams)

February 20, 2014

An act to add Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 67100) to Part 40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code, relating to postsecondary education.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2099, as amended, Frazier. Postsecondary education: Title 38 awards.

Title 38 of the United States Code provides educational awards for eligible active duty members and veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States. Existing law requires an institution headquartered or operating in California desiring to enroll students eligible for federal Title 38 awards in accredited courses to make application for approval of these courses to the California State Approving Agency for Veterans Education, commonly known as CSAAVE, and authorizes CSAAVE to approve the application of the school when the school and its accredited courses satisfy the specified criteria and any additional reasonable criteria established by CSAAVE.

Unless an exception applies, this bill would deem a public or private postsecondary begin insert educational end insert institution that is accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education eligible for initial and renewal Title 38 awards if the institution has a 3-year cohort default rate less than 15.5% and a graduation rate of greater than 30% for students taking 150% or less of the expected time to complete degree requirements, and satisfies the other criteria for qualification for Title 38 awards in the bill. The bill would deem a private postsecondary begin insert educational end insert institution that does not meet the cohort default rate or graduation rate requirement, but that is accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education, eligible for initial and renewal Title 38 awards if the institution is issued an approval to operate from the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education and satisfies the other criteria for qualification for Title 38 awards in the bill.

The bill would require CSAAVE to begin delete certify end delete begin insert verify end insert by November 1 of each year a public or private institution’s latest 3-year cohort default rate and graduation rate as most recently reported by the United States Department of begin delete Education end delete begin insert Education, end insert and a private postsecondary begin insert educational end insert institution’s approval to operate issued by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education if that private postsecondary begin insert educational end insert institution fails to satisfy the cohort default rate or graduation rate requirement. The bill would require CSAAVE to notify initial Title 38 recipients seeking to attend, or attending, an institution that is ineligible for initial and renewal Title 38 awards that the institution is ineligible for Title 38 awards for the academic year, and to provide initial and renewal Title 38 recipients at an ineligible institution with a complete list of all California postsecondary begin insert educational end insert institutions at which the student would be eligible to receive a Title 38 award.

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.  

Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 67100)
is added to Part 40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code,
to read:

 

Chapter  12.5. Title 38 Awards

 

67100.  

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) Section 21.4253 of Title 38 of the Code of Federal
Regulations requires a postsecondary begin insert educational end insert institution
headquartered or operating in California desiring to enroll veterans
or persons eligible for Title 38 awards in accredited courses to
make application for approval of these courses to the California
State Approving Agency for Veterans Education, commonly known
as CSAAVE, as the state approving agency legally designated
pursuant to Section 3671 of Subchapter I of Chapter 36 of Title
38 of the United States Code.

(b) Section 21.4253 authorizes CSAAVE to approve the
application of the school when the school and its accredited courses
satisfy the criteria provided in Section 21.4253 and additional
reasonable criteria established by CSAAVE.

(c) It is reasonable pursuant to Section 21.4253 for CSAAVE
to require an institution, public or private, to maintain a three-year
cohort default rate and graduation rate that satisfies the begin delete three-year
cohort default rate and graduation rate end delete requirements of the Cal
Grant Program, or for the private postsecondary begin insert educational end insert
institution to be approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary
Education, and to require the institution, public or private, to
comply with all federal and state laws and regulations, begin insert and any
additional reasonable criteria established by CSAAVE, end insert in order
for the institution to be eligible for initial and renewal Title 38
awards.

67101.  

The Title 38 Funding Program is hereby established,
under the administration of the California State Approving Agency
for Veterans Education. The California State Approving Agency
for Veterans Education shall approve courses at begin delete public or private
postsecondary educational end delete begin insert qualifying end insert institutions desiring to enroll
veterans or persons eligible for Title 38 awards in accordance with
federal law, this chapter, and other reasonable criteria established
by the California State Approving Agency for Veterans Education.

67102.  

As used in this chapter, the following terms have the
following meanings:

(a) An “academic year” is July 1 to June 30, inclusive. The
starting date of a session shall determine the academic year in
which it is included.

(b) “CSAAVE” is the California State Approving Agency for
Veterans Education.

(c) (1) “Qualifying institution” means an institution that
complies with paragraphs (2), (3), (4), and (5), and either paragraph
(6) or (7).

(2) (A) The institution shall provide information on where to
access California license examination passage rates for the most
recent available year from graduates of its undergraduate programs
leading to employment for which passage of a California licensing
examination is required, if that data is electronically available
through the Internet Web site of a California licensing or regulatory
agency. For purposes of this paragraph, “provide” may exclusively
include placement of an Internet Web site address labeled as an
access point for the data on the passage rates of recent program
graduates on the Internet Web site where enrollment information
is also located, on an Internet Web site that provides centralized
admissions information for postsecondary educational systems
with multiple campuses, or on applications for enrollment or other
program information distributed to prospective students.

(B) The institution shall be responsible for certifying to
CSAAVE compliance with the requirements of subparagraph (A).

(3) The institution shall provide evidence of accreditation begin insert of all
degree programs end insert to CSAAVE from an accrediting agency
recognized by the United States Department of Education. An
institution offering an unaccredited degree that is participating in
Title 38 award programs on January 1, 2015, shall have until
January 1, 2016, to obtain and provide evidence to CSAAVE of
its candidacy begin insert or preaccreditation end insert status begin delete for accreditation end delete with an
accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department
of Education in order for the institution to be eligible for Title 38
awards for the academic year of 2015-16, or 2016-17, or both,
and to obtain and provide evidence to CSAAVE of begin delete full end delete
accreditation from the accrediting agency by January 1, 2017, to
be eligible for Title 38 awards for the academic year of 2017-18,
and each academic year thereafter.

(4) The institution shall provide, in a manner prescribed by
CSAAVE, information on the institution’s veteran student retention
rate and graduation rate, time to degree, cohort default rate, and
graduate placement and graduate starting salary for its veteran
students. CSAAVE shall require that, to the extent feasible, the
collection of information and reporting calculations pursuant to
this paragraph comply with federal and state reporting
requirements.

(5) The institution shall provide to CSAAVE evidence of
compliance with the federal Principles of Excellence program.

(6) (A)  begin insert The institution shall meet the school performance
standards required in this paragraph. end insert CSAAVE shall begin delete certify end delete begin insert verify end insert
by November 1 of each year the institution’s latest three-year
cohort default rate and graduation rate as most recently reported
by the United States Department of Education.

(B) For purposes of the 2015-16 academic year, and every
academic year thereafter, the institution begin delete maintains end delete begin insert shall maintain end insert
a three-year cohort default rate that is less than 15.5 begin delete percent, as
certified by CSAAVE. end delete begin insert percent, and a graduation rate of greater
than 30 percent for students taking 150 percent or less of the
expected time to complete degree requirements. end insert

begin delete

(C) For purposes of the 2015-16 academic year, and every
academic year thereafter, the institution maintains a graduation
rate of greater than 30 percent for students taking 150 percent or
less of the expected time to complete degree requirements, as
reported by the United States Department of Education and as
certified by CSAAVE pursuant to subparagraph (A).

(D)

end delete

begin insert (C) end insert  Notwithstanding any other law, the requirements of this
paragraph shall not apply to institutions with 40 percent or less of
undergraduate students borrowing federal student loans, begin insert as verified
by CSAAVE, end insert using information reported to the United States
Department of Education for the academic year two years before
the year in which CSAAVE is begin delete certifying end delete begin insert verifying end insert the three-year
cohort default rate or graduation rate pursuant to subparagraph
(A).

begin delete

(E)

end delete

begin insert (D) end insert  Notwithstanding subparagraph begin delete (C) end delete begin insert (B), end insert an otherwise
qualifying institution with a three-year cohort default rate that is
less than 10 percent and a graduation rate above 20 percent for
students taking 150 percent or less of the expected time to complete
degree requirements, as begin delete certified end delete begin insert verified end insert by CSAAVE pursuant
to subparagraph (A), shall remain eligible for initial and renewal
Title 38 awards at the institution through the 2018-19 academic
year.

begin delete

(F)

end delete

begin insert (E) end insert  If the United States Department of Education corrects or
revises an institution’s three-year cohort default rate or graduation
rate that would have otherwise failed to satisfy the requirements
established pursuant to subparagraph begin delete (B), (C), or (E), end delete begin insert (B) or (D), end insert
as applicable, and the corrections or revision results in the
institution’s three-year default rate or graduation rate satisfying
those requirements, the institution shall immediately regain its
eligibility for the academic year to which the corrected or revised
three-year default rate or graduation rate would have been applied.

begin delete

(G)

end delete

begin insert (F) end insert  A private postsecondary begin insert educational end insert institution that becomes
ineligible for initial and renewal Title 38 awards pursuant to this
paragraph shall be provided an opportunity to gain begin delete eligibility. end delete
begin insert eligibility under the requirements of paragraph (7). end insert CSAAVE
shall establish rules and procedures to govern the institution’s
transition to eligibility to ensure students who would otherwise
receive initial and renewal awards are not adversely affected during
the transition.

(7) (A) The institution is a private postsecondary begin insert educational end insert
institution issued an approval to operate from begin insert , and is subject to
the regulatory oversight and enforcement of student protections
provided by, end insert the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education.

(B) CSAAVE shall certify by November 1 of each year whether
a private postsecondary begin insert educational end insert institution has been issued an
approval to operate from the Bureau for Private Postsecondary
Education, if that institution fails to satisfy the requirements of
paragraph (6).

67103.  

CSAAVE shall do all of the following:

(a) Notify initial Title 38 recipients seeking to attend, or
attending, an institution that is ineligible for initial and renewal
Title 38 awards under this chapter that the institution is ineligible
for initial Title 38 awards for the academic year for which the
student received an initial Title 38 award.

(b) Provide initial and renewal Title 38 recipients seeking to
attend, or attending, an institution that is ineligible for initial and
renewal Title 38 awards at the institution under this chapter with
a complete list of all California postsecondary educational
institutions at which the student would be eligible to receive a Title
38 award.

begin insert

begin insert 67104. end insert   

Compliance with this chapter, in and of itself, shall not
be construed as satisfying the requirements for participation in
programs authorized by the federal Higher Education Act,
including, but not limited to, Section 600.9 of Title 34 of the Code
of Federal Regulations.

end insert