BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1028 (Jackson) - Cal Grant C Awards
Amended: May 6, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 8-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: May 23, 2014 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED.
Bill Summary: SB 1028 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.
Fiscal Impact (as approved on May 23, 2014):
Administration: Potentially significant costs to the CSAC
to coordinate with specified state, local, and private
entities to identify priority occupational areas, and to
make application scoring changes. The bulk of the costs
would be for an additional Associate Governmental Programs
Analyst, at a cost of approximately $80,000, to act as the
lead for implementing these provisions.
Program publicity: Potentially significant costs to develop
and implement a plan to publicize the Cal Grant Program to
California's long-term unemployed.
Background: Existing law authorizes the Cal Grant Program,
administered by the CSAC, to provide grants to financially needy
students to attend college. The Cal Grant programs include both
the entitlement and the competitive Cal Grant awards. 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 (GPA), California residency, and other eligibility
criteria, as specified. (Education Code 69430-69433.9)
SB 1028 (Jackson)
Page 1
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.
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 (EDD) 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.
SB 1028 (Jackson)
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The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) is required 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)
Proposed Law: This bill requires the 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. This bill 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) household status,
including whether the student is a single parent or the child of
a single parent; and, c) the employment status of the applicant,
and whether the applicant is unemployed, giving greater weight
to the "long-term unemployed."
This bill 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. It 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; and, c) other state and federal programs
available to the applicant.
This bill specifies the state entities with which the CSAC is
required to consult, requires that the CSAC update the priority
areas of occupational and technical training by January 1, 2016,
and 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, as specified.
This bill further requires the CSAC to consult with the EDD, the
Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges, the
California WIB and local WIBs 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, and a plan to make students
receiving awards aware of job search and placement services
available through the EDD and the local WIB.
SB 1028 (Jackson)
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Staff Comments: This bill requires that "if sufficient funds are
available" the annual Cal Grant C award amount be increased to
$3,009-$5,000. Sufficient funds exist in the General Fund, but
they would trade off with other General Fund expenditures. Such
an increase would drive General Fund costs in the millions of
dollars annually.
This bill creates significant additional workload for the CSAC
to take on various required activities relative to its changes
to the Cal Grant C program. The CSAC has indicated it would
require an additional PY and OE&E totaling $90,000.
One of the tasks this bill requires of CSAC, is coordination the
California WIB and local WIBs 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, and a plan to make students
receiving awards aware of job search and placement services
available through the EDD and the local WIB. Implementing a
publicity plan to be used by CSAC, and the WIBs will likely
drive additional costs, the extent of which will be determined
by the plan.
Committee amendments delete the Cal Grant C award increase, and
specify that local workforce investment boards are only
required to participate in coordination efforts with the CSAC to
the extent that they are required to complete those activities
pursuant to federal law.