Bill Text: CA AB2099 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Postsecondary education: Title 38 awards.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-1)

Status: (Passed) 2014-09-27 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 676, Statutes of 2014. [AB2099 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB2099-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2099	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Frazier

                        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 introduced, 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 an institution
ineligible for initial and renewal Title 38 awards if the institution
has a 3-year cohort default rate equal to or greater than 15.5% or a
graduation rate of 30% or less for students taking 150% or less of
the expected time to complete degree requirements, or does not
satisfy the other criteria for qualification for Title 38 awards in
the bill.
   The bill would require CSAAVE to certify by October 1 of each year
an institution's latest 3-year cohort default rate and graduation
rate as most recently reported by the United States Department of
Education, 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 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 the Code of Federal Regulations requires a
postsecondary 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 to maintain a three-year cohort default rate
and graduation rate that satisfies the three-year cohort default rate
and graduation rate requirements of the Cal Grant Program 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.
   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) and (3) and is any of the following:
   (A) A California private or independent postsecondary educational
institution that participates in the Pell Grant Program and in at
least two of the following federal campus-based student aid programs:

   (i) Federal Work-Study.
   (ii) Perkins Loan Program.
   (iii) Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program.
   (B) A nonprofit institution headquartered and operating in
California that certifies to CSAAVE that 10 percent of the
institution's operating budget, as demonstrated in an audited
financial statement, is expended for purposes of institutionally
funded student financial aid in the form of grants, that demonstrates
to the CSAAVE that it has the administrative capacity to administer
the funds, that is accredited by the Western Association of Schools
and Colleges, and that meets any other state-required criteria
adopted by regulation by the CSAAVE in consultation with the
Department of Finance. A regionally accredited institution that was
deemed qualified by the CSAAVE to participate in the Cal Grant
Program for the 2013-14 academic year shall retain its eligibility as
long as it maintains its existing accreditation status.
   (C) A California public postsecondary educational institution.
   (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 the
CSAAVE compliance with the requirements of subparagraph (A).
   (3) (A) The CSAAVE shall certify by October 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, an otherwise qualifying institution with a
three-year cohort default rate that is equal to or greater than 15.5
percent, as certified by the CSAAVE shall be deemed ineligible by
CSAAVE for initial and renewal of Title 38 awards at the institution.

   (C) (i) An otherwise qualifying institution that becomes
ineligible under this paragraph for initial and renewal of Title 38
awards shall regain its eligibility for the academic year for which
it satisfies the requirements established in subparagraph (B) or (E),
as applicable.
   (ii) If the United States Department of Education corrects or
revises an institution's three-year cohort default rate or graduation
rate that originally failed to satisfy the requirements established
in subparagraph (B) or (E), as applicable, and the correction or
revision results in the institution's three-year cohort default rate
or graduation rate satisfying those requirements, that institution
shall immediately regain its eligibility for the academic year to
which the corrected or revised three-year cohort default rate or
graduation rate would have been applied.
   (D) An otherwise qualifying institution for which no three-year
cohort default rate or graduation rate has been reported by the
United States Department of Education shall be provisionally eligible
to participate in the Title 38 Funding Program until a three-year
cohort default rate or graduation rate has been reported for the
institution by the United States Department of Education.
   (E) For purposes of the 2015-16 academic year, and every academic
year thereafter, an otherwise qualifying institution with a
graduation rate of 30 percent or less 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 the CSAAVE pursuant to subparagraph (A), shall be deemed
by CSAAVE to be ineligible for initial and renewal of Title 38
awards at the institution, except as provided for in subparagraph
(G).
   (F) 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, using
information reported to the United States Department of Education for
the academic year two years before the year in which the CSAAVE is
certifying the three-year cohort default rate or graduation rate
pursuant to subparagraph (A).
   (G) Notwithstanding subparagraph (E), 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 certified by the CSAAVE pursuant to subparagraph
(A), shall remain eligible for initial and renewal Title 38 awards at
the institution through the 2018-19 academic year.
   (H) The CSAAVE shall do all of the following:
   (i) Notify initial Title 38 recipients seeking to attend, or
attending, an institution that is ineligible for initial and renewal
Title 38 awards under subparagraph (B) or (E) that the institution is
ineligible for initial Title 38 awards for the academic year for
which the student received an initial Title 38 award.
   (ii) 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 subparagraph (B)
or (E) with a complete list of all California postsecondary
educational institutions at which the student would be eligible to
receive a Title 38 award.