Bill Text: CA AB2297 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Community colleges: nonresident fees.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2010-09-24 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 259, Statutes of 2010. [AB2297 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB2297-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2297 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 259
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 24, 2010
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 23, 2010
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 18, 2010
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 19, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 1, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 29, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Brownley
FEBRUARY 18, 2010
An act to amend Section 76140 of, and to add Section 76140.3 to,
the Education Code, relating to community colleges.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2297, Brownley. Community colleges: nonresident fees.
(1) Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges
under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California
Community Colleges. Existing law also authorizes the establishment of
community college districts, and further authorizes the operation,
by these districts, of community college campuses that offer
instructional services throughout the state.
Existing law requires a community college district to charge a
nonresident tuition fee to nonresident students, with certain
exceptions. Existing law requires the fee to be set according to one
of 4 formulas, one of which divides the expense of education in all
districts by the number of full-time equivalent students, as defined,
attending all districts in the preceding fiscal year.
This bill would provide that if the amount calculated by this
formula for the succeeding fiscal year is less than a specified
amount, then the district is authorized to set the nonresident
tuition fee at a specified amount.
(2) Existing law requires the governing board of a community
college district to consider nonresident tuition fees of public
community colleges in other states when adopting a tuition fee for
nonresident students.
This bill would delete the requirement that the governing board of
a community college district consider nonresident tuition fees of
public community colleges in other states, and instead authorize the
governing board to adopt a nonresident tuition fee that is no greater
than the average of the nonresident tuition fees of public community
colleges of no less than 12 states with comparable cost of living,
as defined.
This bill would require the additional revenue generated by the
increased nonresident tuition permitted under the changes to existing
law made by this bill to be used to expand and enhance services to
resident students, and would prohibit the admission of nonresident
students from coming at the expense of resident enrollment.
(3) This bill would require the Chancellor's Office of the
California Community Colleges to make specified data relating to
nonresident tuition available to the Legislative Analyst's Office,
and would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to include a
summary of this data in its annual analysis of the Governor's budget
proposal.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 76140 of the Education Code is amended to read:
76140. (a) A community college district may admit and shall
charge a tuition fee to nonresident students. The district may exempt
from all or parts of the fee any person described in paragraph (1),
(2), or (3):
(1) All nonresidents who enroll for six or fewer units. Exemptions
made pursuant to this paragraph shall not be made on an individual
basis.
(2) Any nonresident who is both a citizen and resident of a
foreign country, if the nonresident has demonstrated a financial need
for the exemption. Not more than 10 percent of the nonresident
foreign students attending any community college district may be so
exempted. Exemptions made pursuant to this paragraph may be made on
an individual basis.
(3) (A) A student who, as of August 29, 2005, was enrolled, or
admitted with an intention to enroll, in the fall term of the 2005-06
academic year in a regionally accredited institution of higher
education in Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi, and who could not
continue his or her attendance at that institution as a direct
consequence of damage sustained by that institution as a result of
Hurricane Katrina.
(B) The chancellor shall develop guidelines for the implementation
of this paragraph. These guidelines shall include standards for
appropriate documentation of student eligibility to the extent
feasible.
(C) This paragraph shall apply only to the 2005-06 academic year.
(b) A district may contract with a state, a county contiguous to
California, the federal government, or a foreign country, or an
agency thereof, for payment of all or a part of a nonresident student'
s tuition fee.
(c) Nonresident students shall not be reported as full-time
equivalent students (FTES) for state apportionment purposes, except
as provided by subdivision (j) or another statute, in which case a
nonresident tuition fee may not be charged.
(d) The nonresident tuition fee shall be set by the governing
board of each community college district not later than February 1 of
each year for the succeeding fiscal year. The governing board of
each community college district shall provide nonresident students
with notice of nonresident tuition fee changes during the spring term
before the fall term in which the change will take effect.
Nonresident tuition fee increases shall be gradual, moderate, and
predictable. The fee may be paid in installments, as determined by
the governing board of the district.
(e) (1) The fee established by the governing board pursuant to
subdivision (d) shall represent for nonresident students enrolled in
30 semester units or 45 quarter units of credit per fiscal year one
or more of the following:
(A) The amount that was expended by the district for the expense
of education as defined by the California Community College Budget
and Accounting Manual in the preceding fiscal year increased by the
projected percent increase in the United States Consumer Price Index
as determined by the Department of Finance for the current fiscal
year and succeeding fiscal year and divided by the FTES (including
nonresident students) attending in the district in the preceding
fiscal year. However, if for the district's preceding fiscal year
FTES of all students attending in the district in noncredit courses
is equal to, or greater than, 10 percent of the district's total FTES
attending in the district, the district may substitute the data for
expense of education in grades 13 and 14 and FTES in grades 13 and 14
attending in the district.
(B) The expense of education in the preceding fiscal year of all
districts increased by the projected percent increase in the United
States Consumer Price Index as determined by the Department of
Finance for the fiscal year and succeeding fiscal year and divided by
the FTES (including nonresident students) attending all districts
during the preceding fiscal year. However, if the amount calculated
under this paragraph for the succeeding fiscal year is less than the
amount established for the current fiscal year or for any of the past
four fiscal years, the district may set the nonresident tuition fee
at the greater of the current or any of the past four-year amounts.
(C) An amount not to exceed the fee established by the governing
board of any contiguous district.
(D) An amount not to exceed the amount that was expended by the
district for the expense of education, but in no case less than the
statewide average as set forth in subparagraph (B).
(E) An amount no greater than the average of the nonresident
tuition fees of public community colleges of no less than 12 states
that are comparable to California in cost of living. The
determination of comparable states shall be based on a composite
cost-of-living index as determined by the United States Department of
Labor or a cooperating government agency.
(2) The additional revenue generated by the increased nonresident
tuition permitted under the amendments made to this subdivision
during the 2009-10 Regular Session shall be used to expand and
enhance services to resident students. In no event shall the
admission of nonresident students come at the expense of resident
enrollment.
(f) The governing board of each community college district also
shall adopt a tuition fee per unit of credit for nonresident students
enrolled in more or less than 15 units of credit per term by
dividing the fee determined in subdivision (e) by 30 for colleges
operating on the semester system and 45 for colleges operating on the
quarter system and rounding to the nearest whole dollar. The same
rate shall be uniformly charged nonresident students attending any
terms or sessions maintained by the community college. The rate
charged shall be the rate established for the fiscal year in which
the term or session ends.
(g) Any loss in district revenue generated by the nonresident
tuition fee shall not be offset by additional state funding.
(h) Any district that has fewer than 1,500 FTES and whose boundary
is within 10 miles of another state that has a reciprocity agreement
with California governing student attendance and fees may exempt
students from that state from the mandatory fee requirement described
in subdivision (a) for nonresident students.
(i) Any district that has more than 1,500, but less than 3,001,
FTES and whose boundary is within 10 miles of another state that has
a reciprocity agreement with California governing student attendance
and fees may, in any one fiscal year, exempt up to 100 FTES from that
state from the mandatory fee requirement described in subdivision
(a) for nonresident students.
(j) The attendance of nonresident students who are exempted
pursuant to subdivision (h) or (i), or pursuant to paragraph (3) of
subdivision (a), from the mandatory fee requirement described in
subdivision (a) for nonresident students may be reported as resident
FTES for state apportionment purposes. Any nonresident student
reported as resident FTES for state apportionment purposes pursuant
to subdivision (h) or (i) shall pay a fee of forty-two dollars ($42)
per course unit. That fee is to be included in the FTES adjustments
described in Section 76330 for purposes of computing apportionments.
SEC. 2. Section 76140.3 is added to the Education Code, to read:
76140.3. (a) The Chancellor's Office of the California Community
Colleges shall make available to the Legislative Analyst's Office all
of the following data, categorized by community college district and
by academic year, commencing with the 2009-10 academic year:
(1) The number of resident students, rendered both as headcount
and as full-time equivalent students (FTES), including an
identification of any resident enrollment above the district's cap.
(2) The number of nonresident students, rendered both as headcount
and as FTES.
(3) The per-unit nonresident tuition rate.
(4) The total amount of revenue received from nonresident tuition.
(5) The total apportionment funding received by the district.
(b) The Legislative Analyst's Office shall include, in its annual
analysis of the Governor's budget proposal, a summary of the data
made available pursuant to subdivision (a), as well as an analysis of
the degree to which the affected community colleges have complied
with the requirements of paragraph (2) of subdivision (e) of Section
76140.
