1 week Ago By Daily Republic Staff
FAIRFIELD – A bill Sen. Christopher Cabaldon said will make easier for California universities to offer their courses online to out-of-state students passed its first committee Monday. Members of the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee voted 11-0 in favor of Senate Bill 790, "which authorizes the governor to join an interstate reciprocity agreement with other states to offer classes virtually to students in those states," a statement released by Cabaldon's office stated.
"California is currently the only state that does not belong to the existing State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement."This disconnect means students in other states often don’t get to take advantage of the world-class instruction offered by University of California and California State Universities, as well as private universities. "Today, California schools have to pay a fee to each state for every course they offer," the statement said.
It would require the governor to designate a state agency, department or office as the state’s main operating and coordinating body for higher education, including for purposes of entering into a reciprocity agreement for online education. Julie Greenwood, dean of Continuing and Professional Education at the University of California, Davis, said that can cost $250,000 for just five programs. In California, out-of-state institutions must register with the Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education, but are not subject to most state regulation.
"Joining a reciprocity agreement would ensure that California students who are enrolled in an online program with an out-of-state institution have basic consumer protections," the statement said. "For California universities, maximizing online enrollment is especially important post-pandemic, when most college students in California take at least some classes virtually and a third of those take classes from an out-of-state university." At the same time, some California schools, particularly in the California State University System, are significantly under-enrolled and struggling to maintain their course offerings.
“Those online registrations can make the difference in whether a course is offered at all,” Cabaldon, D-Yolo, said in the statement. He is a former community college vice chancellor who also worked as a consultant to the Assembly Education Committee and taught at a CSU. SB 790 is part of a package of bills to assist California’s universities.
SB 640, also by Cabaldon, would establish automatic admission to at least one CSU campus for qualified students, and SB 744 would require California Community College system to establish standardized criteria for awarding academic credit to students for previous training and experience. SB 790 heads to the Senate Education Committee..
