AB 716: California State University: special sessions.

Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Under existing law, 23 institutions of higher education constitute the California State University. Existing law requires that tuition fees adequate to meet the cost of maintaining special sessions, as defined, in the California State University be collected from students enrolled in each special session pursuant to rules and regulations prescribed by the trustees. Existing law prohibits self-supporting special sessions, as defined, from supplanting regular course offerings available on a non-self-supporting basis during the regular academic year.

This bill would provide that, for purposes of these provisions, supplanting occurs when an institution reduces the number of state-supported course offerings while increasing the number of self-supporting versions of that course. The bill also requires, to the extent possible, that each campus ensure that a state-supported course is offered for any course required as a condition of undergraduate degree completion for a state-supported matriculated student. The bill would prohibit all campuses from requiring a state-supported matriculated student to enroll in a special session course in order to fulfill a graduation requirement for a state-supported degree program.