Article 16. Completion, Placement, Licensure, And Salary Disclosure Requirements of California Education Code >> Division 10. >> Title 3. >> Part 59. >> Chapter 8. >> Article 16.

As used in this article, the following terms have the following meanings:
  (a) "Cohort population" means the number of students that began a program on a cohort start date.
  (b) "Cohort start date" means the first class day after the cancellation period during which a cohort of students attends class for a specific program.
  (c) "On-time graduates" means the number of students who complete a program within 100 percent of the published program length. An institution may separately state completion information for students completing the program within 150 percent of the original contracted time, but that information may not replace completion information for students completing within the original scheduled time. Completion information shall be separately stated for each campus or branch of the institution.
  (d) "Graduates available for employment" means the number of graduates minus the number of graduates unavailable for employment.
  (e) (1) "Graduates employed in the field" means graduates who are gainfully employed in a single position for which the institution represents the program prepares its graduates, beginning within six months after a student completes the applicable educational program. For occupations for which the state requires passing an examination, the period of employment shall begin within six months of the announcement of the examination results for the first examination available after a student completes an applicable educational program.
  (2) The bureau shall define by July 1, 2014, specific measures and standards for determining whether a student is gainfully employed in a full-time or part-time position for which the institution represents the program prepares its graduates, including self-employment or conducting freelance work, and may set the standards for the hours per week and duration of employment and utilize any job classification methodology the bureau determines appropriate for this purpose, including, but not limited to, the United States Department of Labor's Standard Occupational Classification codes.
  (3) This subdivision shall not prohibit the bureau from authorizing an institution to aggregate single positions held by a graduate for purposes of meeting the hours per week standards established by the bureau.
  (f) "Graduates unavailable for employment" means graduates who, after graduation, die, become incarcerated, are called to active military duty, are international students that leave the United States or do not have a visa allowing employment in the United States, or are continuing their education at an accredited or bureau-approved postsecondary institution.
  (g) "Students available for graduation" means the cohort population minus the number of students unavailable for graduation.
  (h) "Students unavailable for graduation" means students who have died, been incarcerated, or called to active military duty.

(a) An institution shall annually report to the bureau, as part of the annual report, and publish in its School Performance Fact Sheet, the completion rate for each program. Except as provided in subdivision (b), the completion rate shall be calculated by dividing the number of on-time graduates by the number of students available for graduation.
  (b) In lieu of calculating graduation data pursuant to subdivision (a), an institution may report graduation data reported to, and calculated by, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System of the United States Department of Education.

(a) An institution shall annually report to the bureau, as part of the annual report, and shall publish in its School Performance Fact Sheet, all of the following:
  (1) The job placement rate, calculated by dividing the number of graduates employed in the field by the number of graduates available for employment for each program that is either (1) designed, or advertised, to lead to a particular career, or (2) advertised or promoted with any claim regarding job placement.
  (2) The license examination passage rates for the immediately preceding two years for programs leading to employment for which passage of a state licensing examination is required, calculated by dividing the number of graduates who pass the examination by the number of graduates who take the licensing examination the first time that the examination is available after completion of the educational program. The institution shall use state agency licensing data to calculate license examination passage rates. If those data are unavailable, the institution shall calculate the license examination passage rate in a manner consistent with regulations adopted by the bureau.
  (3) Salary and wage information, consisting of the total number of graduates employed in the field and the annual wages or salaries of those graduates stated in increments of five thousand dollars ($5,000).
  (4) If applicable, the most recent official three-year cohort default rate reported by the United States Department of Education for the institution and the percentage of enrolled students receiving federal student loans.
  (b) Nothing in this section shall limit the bureau's authority to collect information from an institution to comply with this section and ensure, by regulation and other lawful means, that the information required by this section, and the manner in which it is collected and reported, is all of the following:
  (1) Useful to students.
  (2) Useful to policymakers.
  (3) Based upon the most credible and verifiable data available.
  (4) Does not impose undue compliance burdens on an institution.
  (c) Data and information disclosed pursuant to paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, of subdivision (a) is not required to include students who satisfy the qualifications specified in subdivision (d) of Section 94909, but an institution shall disclose on its fact sheet and to the bureau whether its data, information, or both, excludes any students pursuant to this subdivision.

(a) The information used to substantiate the rates and information calculated pursuant to Sections 94929 and 94929.5 shall do both of the following:
  (1) Be documented and maintained by the institution for five years from the date of the publication of the rates and information.
  (2) Be retained in an electronic format and made available to the bureau upon request.
  (b) An institution shall provide a list of employment positions used to determine the number of graduates employed in the field for purposes of calculating job placement rates pursuant to this article.
  (c) The bureau shall identify the specific information that an institution is required to document and maintain to substantiate rates and information pursuant to this section.

(a) On or before January 1, 2011, and pursuant to Section 94877, the bureau shall establish, by regulation, a uniform method for institutions to obtain statistically valid, current, and representative data to comply with this article.
  (b) A violation of the regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) is a material violation of this chapter.

(a) The bureau shall consider the graduate salary and other outcome data and reporting requirements that are utilized by the United States Department of Education, the Student Aid Commission, accrediting agencies, and student advocate associations. The bureau shall consider the reporting requirements of public postsecondary institutions in California to evaluate the feasibility of adopting these reporting requirements for private postsecondary institutions. The bureau shall make recommendations to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2016, on how reporting requirements under this chapter should be altered to ensure accurate, useful, and consistent reporting by private postsecondary institutions to the bureau and students.
  (b) The bureau is authorized to enter into a personal services contract with an appropriate independent contractor to assist in the evaluation required by subdivision (a). In this connection, the Legislature finds, pursuant to Section 19130 of the Government Code, that this is a new state function.
  (c) (1) A report to be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
  (2) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section is repealed January 1, 2017.