Donahoe Higher Education ActAdmissions
Section § 66201
This section expresses California's commitment to ensuring that everyone who lives in the state and is motivated and able to succeed in higher education has the chance to enroll in a college or university. The law acknowledges that residents should be able to continue their education as long as they meet academic and institutional requirements. It reaffirms the state's promise to provide a place in public higher education for every student who can benefit from attending.
Section § 66201.5
This law encourages both the University of California and the California State University to have 40% of their undergraduates as lower division students (freshmen and sophomores) and 60% as upper division students (juniors and seniors). To achieve this balance, they should focus on admitting more transfer students rather than turning away eligible freshmen applicants.
Section § 66201.7
This law asks the Regents of the University of California to allow, and requires the Trustees of the California State University to allow, each campus to create a process where full-time undergraduate students can apply to delay their start date by up to one academic year. The decision to approve such a delay is up to each university and will be considered individually for each student.
Section § 66202
This law guides how the California State University and University of California should prioritize enrollment for undergraduate resident students. The order of priority is: continuing students in good standing, community college transfer students in an approved program, other community college transfer students, other qualified transfers, and new freshmen or sophomores. Priority within these categories is given to recently discharged veterans, community college transfers, previously enrolled students in good standing, applicants needing programs not available elsewhere, and those facing hardship attending elsewhere. Moreover, veterans who were students before military service get top priority among veterans.
Section § 66202.5
This law emphasizes California's commitment to supporting more student enrollment at the University of California and California State University systems. It ensures that eligible California freshmen and community college transfer students have places in these universities. The state pledges to provide necessary resources so these students are accommodated based on previous agreements and plans.
If certain majors are 'impacted' or have limited space, transfer students should still have a chance to enter when slots open up. Freshmen admissions are managed to make sure transfer students have fair opportunities. The state also aims to fund programs for this purpose through the annual budget, promoting educational equity and diversity.
The universities must ensure fair treatment for all freshman, continuing, and transfer students while considering the overall educational needs, equity, and diversity goals.
Section § 66203
This law requires the California State University and the University of California to keep track of applicants who are denied admission. They must also keep data on how many qualified applicants could not get into their first-choice campus and were instead offered spots at other campuses, as well as how many of these applicants turned down those alternate offers.
Section § 66204
This law section ensures that all public high school students in California have access to a core curriculum that satisfies the admission criteria for the University of California and California State University. The Superintendent of Public Instruction must advise schools on the importance of making course lists accessible to students, encouraging them to take college-preparatory programs. Schools shouldn't guide students away from these programs due to cultural or language reasons.
Additionally, the University of California is asked to help schools understand how to get their courses certified as meeting admission criteria, develop internal processes for this purpose, and keep accurate, accessible lists of certified courses for students. The goal is for higher education institutions to support elementary and secondary education in preparing students for college.
Section § 66205
This section outlines the California Legislature's expectations for the University of California and California State University admission standards. Firstly, it calls for fair and easy-to-understand admissions processes. Secondly, it encourages allowing students to apply for admission even if they have certain course deficiencies due to circumstances beyond their control, as long as they agree to make up the missing coursework. Thirdly, it promotes consultation with California’s diverse ethnic and cultural communities. Additionally, the universities are encouraged to strive for a student body that reflects the state's diverse cultural, racial, geographic, economic, and social background while maintaining high academic standards.
Section § 66205.5
This law requires the California State University, and requests the University of California, to start developing a uniform set of standards for high school and college-level courses starting October 1, 2025. This is meant to ensure that courses taken by students in high school or community college for college credit are recognized for admission purposes by these universities.
They will establish academic standards with input from a variety of stakeholders including teachers, school administrators, and parents. The legislation also aims to streamline the process for high schools to get their courses approved as meeting admission requirements and to provide clarity on which courses qualify. Furthermore, the law requires these universities to consider previous work on similar matters and post the new standards online. Additionally, guidelines for approving high school computer science courses will be developed to help meet math requirements.
Finally, it is intended for these standards to align with existing educational standards and be accessible through the California Community Colleges' website.
Section § 66205.6
This law section requests that, if funds are available, the University of California Regents set up the University of California Curriculum Integration Institute. This Institute would focus on bringing together teachers and experts from different educational institutions to develop integrated academic and technical courses. These courses should align with industry needs and help California students gain practical skills in high-priority sectors. The Institute's activities would be overseen by the President of the University of California, who will decide on sector priorities in consultation with educators and industry leaders. The effort would only proceed if the University Regents decide to implement these provisions.
Section § 66205.7
This law section asks California State University and the University of California to help develop and deliver a model career technical education curriculum that combines academic and technical learning. They should provide experts to assist with this curriculum, which should align with existing high school curriculum guidelines. If a school district offers this integrated curriculum, universities should support teachers and administrators by sharing expertise, with input from various stakeholders like businesses, teachers, school leaders, parents, and university reps.
By July 1, 2011, the universities needed to create an online resource listing community college courses that high school students can take to meet University of California admission requirements. They also had to post agreements between high schools and universities that offer college credit for certain high school programs, and link these details to career technical education websites.
Section § 66205.8
This law requires the California State University (CSU) to create a way for high school students to use career technical education (CTE) courses as general elective credits for admission. By January 1, 2014, CSU had to establish criteria for accepting CTE courses, with input from the State Department of Education and CSU faculty. These criteria must be approved by the CSU Academic Senate and implemented uniformly across all campuses.
If CSU fails to set this up by the deadline, then it's mandatory to recognize all high school CTE courses that meet established curriculum standards as fulfilling elective credit requirements. The law encourages using federal and other nonstate funds, like those from the Carl D. Perkins Act, to cover associated costs.
Section § 66205.9
This law sets guidelines for the University of California and the California State University related to high school career technical education courses. If by July 1, 2008, these universities haven't adopted their own academic standards for these courses, as outlined in Section 66205.5, they are asked to accept any high school career technical education courses meeting certain state curriculum standards as fulfilling a general elective course requirement for university admission.
Once any new standards are adopted, the universities must make them publicly available. Importantly, any career technical education courses already approved by these universities before January 1, 2007, remain unaffected by these requirements.
Section § 66207
This law states that if a student applying to the University of California or California State University asks, both the Regents of the University of California and the Trustees of the California State University must share how they adjust an applicant’s GPA. The University of California regents are asked to do so, while the California State University trustees are required to comply.
Section § 66207.5
This law requests the University of California to post annual reports by December 1st from 2026 onwards, detailing specific data on students in their medical schools on a publicly accessible website. The report should include the total number of enrolled students, those who are first-generation, Federal Pell Grant recipients, community college transfers, multilingual speakers (specifying less represented languages in the physician workforce), and members of California or federally recognized tribes.
It should also cover applicant numbers, contextual data, baccalaureate degree sources, and, if available, students' sexual orientation and gender identity. The data must be broken down by campus, relate to the relevant academic year, comply with privacy laws, and exclude personal identifiers. The requirement for these reports ends on January 1, 2035.
Section § 66208
This law states that The Regents and Trustees of the University of California and California State University respectively should allow students to re-enroll in their bachelor's programs if they left in good academic standing. However, students might need to settle any unpaid tuition and fees first. If a student attended another institution in between, they may need to show transcripts and evidence of good standing when they left. The universities can choose to exclude the time students were not attending when calculating time to graduation. Additionally, they are encouraged to reach out to former students who did not finish their degree, especially those who were close to graduating.