Public postsecondary education: the California Promise: Student Success and On-time Completion Fund.

Existing law establishes the California Promise, which requires specified minimum numbers of campuses of the California State University to establish a California Promise program by which the campus would enter into a pledge with a student who satisfies specified criteria to support the student in earning a baccalaureate degree within 4 academic years, or if the student is a community college transfer student who earned an associate degree for transfer, within 2 academic years, of the academic year of the student's first year of enrollment at the California State University, as specified. This bill would add to the qualifying criteria for a student to participate in the program that, for any student not already participating as of the 2020–21 academic year, the student is eligible for a Cal Grant award or federal Pell Grant award after filing a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or a California Dream Act Application. The bill would establish the Student Success and On-time Completion Fund in the State Treasury, and would authorize the trustees, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to use moneys in the fund to incentivize participation in a campus' California Promise program by providing summer term grants and annual progress grants, as specified. Commencing July 1, 2020, if a California Promise student cannot complete a baccalaureate degree program within the pledged time of support because a required course for the degree program is not offered or is full at the campus, this bill would prohibit systemwide tuition and fees from being charged to the California Promise student to register and enroll in the course once the course becomes available, or in a substitute course that fulfills the graduation requirement.