Plain English Breakdown
The official text does not specify if students who earned certificates outside a course sequence leading to an associate degree remain ineligible, though it implies they do by only creating an exception for specific cases.
AB-1920: Changing Fee Waiver Rules for California Community College Students
This law allows students who earn a certificate as part of their path to an associate degree to still get fee waivers under the California College Promise.
What This Bill Does
- Keeps the existing funding program called the California College Promise for community colleges.
- Allows colleges to waive some or all fees for eligible first-time and returning students for two academic years.
- Stops a rule that made students ineligible if they earned any certificate from another school, but only when that certificate is part of a course sequence leading to an associate degree.
Who It Names or Affects
- First-time community college students in California who meet enrollment and application requirements.
- Returning community college students in California who meet enrollment and application requirements.
- Students enrolled in 12 or more semester units, or fewer if certified as full time.
Terms To Know
- California College Promise
- A state program that gives money to community colleges so they can waive fees for eligible students.
- Fee waiver
- When a college does not charge a student some or all of the required enrollment costs.
Limits and Unknowns
- The law only changes rules for certificates earned as part of a course sequence leading to an associate degree.
- Students who have already finished earning any full degree from another school are still not eligible.
- Funding depends on the Legislature approving money each year.