Public postsecondary education: admission, transfer, and enrollment.

Senator Cabaldon’s proposal weaves a data-driven CSU Direct Admission Program into a broader reform of CSU transfer pathways, pre-admitting eligible high-school graduates from participating local educational agencies to designated CSU campuses. The Direct Admission Program hinges on transcript-informed pupil accounts housed on the CaliforniaColleges.edu platform and on the California College Guidance Initiative acting on the CSU’s behalf to issue direct-admission letters. Eligibility for direct admission includes coursework completed by the end of Grade 11, on-track A–G requirements, and a qualifying CSU-grade-point average, with all Grade 12 pupils in participating LEAs deemed applicants for admission purposes and enrollment procedures outlined for those who accept an offer.

In parallel, the bill extends the CSU’s dual admissions program through the 2035–36 academic year and modifies its transfer-readiness requirements. The guaranteed path now permits completion of either an associate degree for transfer or another transfer-focused credential within three academic years at a California community college, with admission guaranteed to a specific CSU campus selected by the student at the time of the agreement. The program allows supplementary criteria for oversubscribed campuses and preserves a unit-requirements floor for the designated path. It also requires fee waivers for eligible dual admission participants, access to library and counseling services, and the provision of provisional financial-aid information to applicants. The California Community Colleges are designated to promote the program through orientations, annual communications to new students, campus website postings, and counseling-office information. A progress report on the program’s implementation and outcomes must be submitted to the Department of Finance and the Legislature by a specified date, with data disaggregated by demographics and aid status, and the program is set to sunset on January 1, 2037.

Implementation rests on shared data systems and designated campus participation. The Direct Admission Program requires participating LEAs to offer transcript-informed pupil accounts and to provide data to determine eligibility; the Chancellor designates CSU campuses as university participants, with an explicit intent that campuses with available capacity participate. The Direct Admission letters are transmitted by the California College Guidance Initiative on the CSU’s behalf, before or during the fall priority filing period, and enrollment follows the standard procedures outlined to accept offers. Oversight involves reporting to the Legislature and the Department of Finance, with the Government Code-based framework governing mandated-cost reimbursements if such costs are determined to be state-mandated. Local program costs may arise from new LEA and CCC duties, while CSU administration and data-integrity efforts incur their own costs.

The authors frame the bill as pursuing two complementary objectives: formalizing a direct-admission channel grounded in high-school data and expanding a transfer-focused pathway to CSU campuses. They state that the dual admissions program aims to increase access for underrepresented students, improve transfer pathways among CCCs and CSU campuses, reduce student costs and time to degree, enhance planning predictability, and strengthen transfer readiness. The structure creates a data-enabled pre-admission track and an extended, transfer-based admission route, with a sunset for the dual admissions framework and a continuing direct-admission pathway subject to ongoing implementation and oversight.