The reasons are varied, according to Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego), who served 26 years as a professor and dean at San Diego State University and spent eight years as president of the San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees. Some students who spend five or more years in college take classes out of sequence, can't get into the classes they need to graduate on time or switch majors multiple times because they don't know what career to pursue, he said.
When students spend more time in college, they spend more money, draw full-time salaries in the workforce later and hinder students behind them from getting into the classes they need.
Block, Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León and Sen. Carol Liu (D-Berkeley) decided to tackle this problem with Senate Bill 15, which would provide incentive grants for students who stay on track to graduate in four years and expand Cal Grant awards so students can afford to take more classes each semester. The bill passed its first legislative hurdle unanimously after the Senate Education Committee's vote on Wednesday, April 8.
In order to graduate on time, students need to take at least 15 units a semester, but they only need 12 or more units to qualify for financial aid. The average CSU student in fall 2014 attempted to take 13 units, with more than 26,000 freshmen taking 12 units and more than 14,000 freshmen taking 15 units.
This bill would encourage more students to take 30 units in one academic year on the semester system or 45 units on the quarter system through the Graduation Incentive Grant program. In their first year at a CSU campus, students with financial need who complete these units could be eligible to receive a $1,000 incentive grant. If they repeat the feat a second year, they could receive a $1,500 incentive grant. And a third year could earn them $2,000.
"What this bill does is it provides students with a $4,500 bonus basically for graduating in four years," Block said. "We think that's going to motivate students to take 15 units in a semester instead of 12."
But this program doesn't guarantee that an eligible student will receive a grant each year -- it will be contingent upon available funding.
Along with the grant program, this bill addresses some of the other challenges that hinder students from graduating on time. For example, some students may not be able to afford to take 15 units each semester, hence a proposed increase of Cal Grant A and B awards. The number of available awards would increase by 7,500 to 30,000.
The bill would also reverse an 11 percent Cal Grant cut scheduled to affect new students who attend private nonprofit colleges in California this fall. Block doesn't want to see the grant drop to $8,056 because these private institutions help public institutions meet increasing education demands.
SB 15 is part of a broader push in the Senate to take responsibility for students' education by providing more General Fund dollars to universities instead of continuing to increase students' tuition rates, which rose by $2,952 for undergraduate students from the 2005-06 fiscal year to $5,472 this fiscal year.
"We recognize that during the recession, we as a state underfunded higher education, and the Senate is saying it's time for us to step up, for the state to take its fair share," Block said.
SB 15 includes language that expresses the Senate's intent to provide more money for the following:
- hiring more faculty to teach bottleneck courses that keep students in school longer,
- hiring more career counselors to help students figure out their career path early; and
- hiring more academic advisers to guide students through their education plan.
But where the money will come from is the question that's up for debate in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Block said he hopes to identify and repurpose pots of money from other higher education programs that aren't working as well as expected. Ultimately, he said the investment will pay off because students will enter the workforce faster, which will kick start the economy in California and bring in more tax revenue.
"Almost everyone agrees this is good policy," Block said. "The question is how do we fund it, and that's what we'll be debating over the next month."
