BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1028
AUTHOR: Jackson
AMENDED: April 21, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 30, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Cal Grant C awards.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California Student Aid Commission
(CSAC), in selecting students to receive a Cal Grant C award,
to give special consideration to students who meet specified
criteria, including the employment status of the applicant,
increases the annual award amount for all Cal Grant C
recipients to between $3,009-$5,000 if sufficient funds are
available, authorizes the use of the awards for living
expenses, and establishes new criteria and processes for
identifying areas of occupational and workforce training which
qualify for the awards.
BACKGROUND
Current law authorizes the Cal Grant program, administered by
the CSAC, to provide grants to financially needy students to
attend college. The program consists of the Cal Grant A, Cal
Grant B, and Cal Grant C programs, and eligibility is based
upon financial need, grade point average, California residency,
and other eligibility criteria, as specified in Education Code
� 69433.9. (Education Code � 69430-69433.9)
Cal Grant C awards assist with tuition and training costs at
occupational or vocational programs and may be used for
institutional fees, charges, and other costs, including
tuition, plus training-related costs, such as special clothing,
local transportation, required tools, equipment, supplies, and
books. Current law establishes the total number of Cal Grant C
awards as the number awarded in the 2000-01 fiscal year (7,761)
with the maximum award amount and the total amount of funding
being determined in the annual Budget Act.
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Current law requires the CSAC to consult with appropriate state
and federal agencies to develop areas of occupational and
technical training for which students may utilize Cal Grant C
awards. The commission, if necessary, may also consult with
nongovernmental stakeholders that develop or provide workforce
training or employ graduates of occupational and technical
training programs for this purpose. These areas of
occupational and technical training are required to be
regularly reviewed and updated at least every five years,
beginning in 2012.
The CSAC is also required to undertake various activities to
support the granting of priority to certain Cal Grant C
applicants. Specifically, the CSAC is required to:
Give priority in granting Cal Grant C awards to students
pursuing occupational or technical training in areas that
meet at least two of the following criteria: high
employment need, high employment salary or wage
projections, and high employment growth. The CSAC is
required to determine areas of occupational or technical
training that meet these criteria in consultation with the
Employment Development Department using projections
available through the Labor Market Information Data
Library.
Publish, and retain, on its Internet Web site a current
list of the areas of occupational or technical training
that meet these criteria and to update this list as
necessary.
Examine the graduation rates and job placement data of
eligible programs, and commencing with the 2014-15 academic
year, to give priority to Cal Grant C applicants seeking to
enroll in programs that rate high in graduation rates and
job placement data.
Current law requires the Legislative Analyst's Office to submit
a report to the Legislature on the outcomes of the Cal Grant C
program on or before April 1, 2015, and on or before April 1 of
each odd-numbered year thereafter, as specified.
(EC � 69439)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
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1) Requires the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC), in
selecting students to receive a Cal Grant C award, to give
special consideration to the social and economic situation
of applicants by giving additional weight to disadvantaged
applicants, applicants who face economic hardship, and
applicants who face particular barriers to employment.
2) Requires that the criteria to be considered for purposes
of determining social and economic hardship include, but
not be limited to, all of the following:
a) Family income and household size.
b) Student's/Parents' household status, including
whether the student is a single parent or the child
of a single parent.
c) The employment status of the applicant, and
whether the applicant is unemployed, giving greater
weight to the "long-term unemployed."
3) Increases the annual award amount of a Cal Grant C to at
least $3,009 and no more than $5,000, if sufficient funds
are available.
4) Authorizes the use of Cal Grant C awards for books and
living expenses and requires that the CSAC consider, in
determining the individual award amount:
a) The financial means available to the
student to fund the course of study.
b) The costs of attendance.
c) Other state and federal programs available to
the applicant.
5) Specifies that the state entities with which the CSAC is
required to consult to identify areas of occupational and
technical training for which Cal Grant C may be utilized
include the Economic and Workforce Development Division of
the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges and the California Workforce Investment Board
(WIB) and requires, to the extent feasible, that the CSAC
also consult with representatives of the state's leading
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competitive and emerging industry clusters, workforce
professionals, and career technical educators to determine
which programs and industry cluster should be prioritized.
6) Requires that the CSAC update the priority areas of
occupational and technical training by January 1, 2016.
7) Expands the criteria which must be met for an occupational
or technical training area to qualify a student for
priority in the granting of a Cal Grant C awards. More
specifically it:
a) Requires that the occupational
training area satisfy two of the following four
criteria (rather than two of the three which are
required in current law):
i) High employer need or
demand for the specific skills offered in the
program.
ii) High employment growth in the
occupational field or industry cluster for which
the student is being trained.
iii) High employment salary and wage
projections for workers employed in the
occupations for which they are being trained.
iv) The occupation or training program is
part of a well-articulated career pathway to a
job providing economic security.
b) Requires that (iii) or (iv) be at least one of
the two criteria satisfied.
8) Expands the entities with which the CSAC is required to
consult to identify areas of occupational and technical
training for which Cal Grant C may be prioritized to
additionally include the Department of Economic and
Workforce Development Division of the California Community
College Chancellor's Office and the California WIB.
9) Authorizes the CSAC, in determining areas of occupational
or technical training, to supplement the analyses of the
Employment Development Department Labor Market Information
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Data Library with the labor market analyses developed by
the Economic and Workforce Development Division of the
California Community College Chancellor's Office and the
California WIB and the projections of occupational
shortages and skills gap developed by industry leaders.
10) Requires the CSAC to consult with the Employment
Development Department (EDD), the Chancellor's Office of
the CCC, the CA WIB and local workforce investment board
to develop a plan to publicize the Cal Grant Program to
California's long-term unemployed and to be used by those
agencies when they come into contact with people
experiencing long-term unemployment.
11) Requires the CSAC to consult with the Workforce Services
Branch of the EDD, the Chancellor of the CCC, the CA WIB
and the local workforce investment boards to develop a
plan to make students receiving awards aware of job search
and placement services available through the EDD and the
local WIB.
12) Cross references and defines various terms for purposes of
the bill, including "long-term unemployed" to mean a
person who has been unemployed for more than 26 weeks at
the time of submission of the Cal Grant C application.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, California
has one of the highest long term unemployment rates in the
country. In February 2014, the author reports that 39
percent of the 1.6 million unemployed had been so for 6
months or longer. This bill proposes changes to the Cal
Grant C program to facilitate access and participation in
the program for the long-term unemployed. According to
the author, giving additional weight to the long term
unemployed in the application process for Cal Grant C will
help remedy the problem of long term unemployment in
California by providing this group with resource to
enhance or develop new skills on the basis of labor market
trends and employer needs.
In addition, this bill requires that the CSAC utilize
information already developed by other governmental
agencies to help determine and better align priority
sectors and occupations with identified job growth trends
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and job quality.
1) Cal Grant C . Students meeting the general eligibility for
the Cal Grant award may be considered for the Cal Grant C.
There is no high school graduation requirement, minimum
grade point average or maximum age for recipients.
However, students must be California residents, have
United States or eligible noncitizen status, complete US
selective service requirements, enroll at least half-time
at an eligible California institution, maintain
satisfactory academic progress (defined by the
institution) once enrolled, meet family income and asset
ceilings, and not be in default on any student loan or owe
any federal or state grant refund.
Cal Grant C awards assist with tuition and training costs
for occupational, technical, and vocational programs. The
award includes up to $547 for books, tools and equipment -
and up to $2,462 more for tuition and fees for attendance
at other than a California Community College. Funding is
available for up to two years, depending on the length of
the program. To qualify, a student must enroll in an
occupational, technical, or vocational program that is at
least four months long at a California Community College,
an independent college, or a vocational/career school.
In order to determine an applicant's eligibility for a Cal
Grant C, additional information must be provided on the
Cal Grant C Supplement form. Supplements are scored based
on the applicant's work experience, educational history,
vocational aptitude, and occupational goal. Students who
select a priority occupation receive additional points in
the scoring criteria.
2) Who currently receives the Cal Grant ? According to the
CSAC, approximately 50% of eligible applicants receive the
limited number of awards. According to the 2012-13 report
on Cal Grant recipients prepared by the CSAC almost 85
percent of Cal Grant C recipients are independent
students. About 64 percent earned less than $18,000
annually, and almost 84 percent earned less than $30,000
annually. Almost two-thirds of the recipients were
female, with 70 percent ages 25 and over. CSAC reports
that over 17,000 completed supplemental applications were
returned in 2011-12 and 2012-13, with 9,000 awards offered
in those same fiscal years.
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3) Clarification of the bill's effect . This bill is intended
to facilitate the participation of the long-term
unemployed in the Cal Grant C program. To accomplish
this, the bill gives greater weight to applicants who face
economic hardship and particular barriers to employment.
Unemployment, particularly long-term unemployment, is
given additional weight as a measure of economic hardship,
along with family income and household size, and
student/parent household status (single-parent status).
Cal Grant C awards are currently scored on the basis of
educational history, occupational history, GPA, and
occupational priority. Economic hardship would be one of
five elements considered in scoring a Cal Grant C
application.
While current Cal Grant eligibility requires that students
meet statutorily prescribed asset and income levels, this
bill would create an additional level of priority by
requiring the scoring criteria for economic hardship,
thereby creating some advantage for the lowest income
students applying for a Cal Grant C award.
4) Why additional consulting ? Current law requires the CSAC
to give "priority" in granting Cal Grant C awards to
students pursuing occupational or technical training in
areas that meet two of the following three criteria: high
employment need, high employment growth, and high wage.
According to the CSAC through extensive consultation with
the Employment Development Department (EDD) and its
subsidiary, the Labor Market Information Data Library
(LMID), the Director at the Center for Strategic Economic
Research, and the Dean of the Industry Partnership
Practices Unit at the Community College Chancellor's
Office, the commission has determined which occupations
met the requirements set forth in law.
According to the author the provisions requiring
consultation with specific community college and workforce
investment board entities are intended to encourage CSAC
to make use of labor market expertise and analyses already
being performed. In addition, these are intended to bring
like-programs under different state agencies into better
alignment, reduce duplication of effort, and ensure that
agencies performing similar tasks with similar goals are
moving in the same direction.
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5) Premature changes ? The most recent changes to the Cal
Grant C program occurred in 2011. According to CSAC,
since the enactment of the new requirements established by
SB 451, only two years of awards have occurred (2012-13
and 2013-14). To assess the impact of those changes, the
LAO is required to report on the outcomes of the Cal Grant
C program beginning in 2015 and every other year
thereafter.
According to the author, the priority occupational and
training programs currently identified emphasize job
growth, but give insufficient weight to job quality,
career mobility, and whether or not training meets skills
gaps. The new criteria are intended to ensure that
employer needs are being met while also ensuring that
training for high quality jobs are being prioritized.
This bill establishes new criteria and, in effect, sets a
higher threshold for occupational and training programs to
be identified as "priority." The committee may wish to
consider whether the results of the LAO report should be
evaluated prior to implementing any new changes to the
program.
6) Technical amendments . As recently amended, the bill no
longer reserves awards for the long-term unemployed.
Staff recommends the bill be amended to delete lines 33-34
on page 7 to conform the LAO reporting requirements to the
current version of the bill.
7) Prior legislation . SB 451 (Price, Chapter 627, Statutes
of 2011) required the CSAC to prioritize Cal Grant C
awards to students pursuing study in areas of high
employment need, high salary or wage protection, or high
growth, and established related authority and requirements
for identifying these areas of employment. SB 451 also
required CSAC to examine graduation rates and job
placement data of eligible programs and, commencing in
2014-15, to give priority to Cal Grant C applicants
seeking enrollment in programs rating highly in these
factors. The bill also requires the Legislative Analyst's
Office report to the Legislature to contain specified
information.
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SUPPORT
Board of Governors, California Community Colleges
California Hospital Association
California Labor Federation
California Manufacturers & Technology Association (CMTA)
EDGE Coalition
Institute for College Access and Success
Jewish Vocational Service of San Francisco
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
OPPOSITION
None received.