Business Need

Implement a workflow path in CCCApply for "Noncredit" students who are exempt from residency determination because they are enrolling exclusively in noncredit courses.

Until mid-2018, existing law required all students to be classified as a resident or nonresident at a California community college. However, the recently passed Assembly Bill 3101 (AB3101) allows an exemption for students seeking to enroll exclusively in career development, college preparation courses, and other courses for which no credit is given, from community college residency classification requirements.

Therefore, the CCCApply application process needs to be updated to:

• collect information/data on all students
• provide colleges with an electronic admission application for noncredit students
• exempt noncredit students from the residency determination
• only collect data that is required by the federal gov, state law, or that is otherwise necessary at the time of application

Story/Need
As a "noncredit" student, identified as such by a college or high school, I need a user-friendly process within CCCApply that is free from residency questions and other unnecessary questions, and exempts me from the CA residency determination status/process (per AB3101). I should only have to answer questions required by state or federal regulations for someone enrolling exclusively in noncredit courses at the time of application. If my college credit status should change, I need to re-apply using CCCApply Standard workflow and will have to answer all residency questions that were hidden/exempt during the noncredit process.

Additional Information
In response to & support of AB3101, the Chancellor's Office is requesting a version of the Standard Application which is exempt from the CA residency determination specifically for noncredit students. There are two pieces to AB3101: 1) exempt noncredit students from residency requirements; and 2) make the process for noncredit and ALL students as streamlined and barrier free as possible by only collecting info and data that is required by state and federal law at the time of application, in other words remove questions that aren't required at application or that can be collected by the college at a different time.

It's important that the Standard Application be the basis for this new "residency-exempt" application so that there is limited hassle and time-savings if and when the noncredit student transitions to "college credit courses" which will require the student to re-apply to the college using CCCApply and thus, classified for residency. See section on additional requirements for the transitioning student.

Concerns about AB3101 Legislation: Policy & Procedures 

Non-Credit Application Issues

ISSUE:  In order to comply with the new AB3101 - in order to  legislation to address the following questions: 

IF noncredit students are not subject to residency classification requirements:

1. What is their official residency status?
1. Are we allowed to automatically classify them as a non-resident, according to the law?
   
   
2. What fees should they be charged?
1. Non-resident or resident fees if taking credit courses at the same time or transitioning to credit courses?
   
   
3. Are they allowed to transition to credit courses while they are taking noncredit courses?
1. If not, would they have to re-submit an application before transitioning to credit.
   
   
4. If we are not collecting residency for noncredit, how does this impact apportionment?
1. Are noncredit non-residents included in apportionment?

ISSUE: AB3101 does not address, or provide guidance, on how colleges are supposed to track and manage residency for a "noncredit" student who decides to cross over and take "credit" courses.

• Can they do that without completing the full standard application? 
  (Feedback:  The approved solution in-progress will require that the student must submit a Standard Application to determine residency. However, the previously submitted answers on the Noncredit Application will auto-fill into the new Standard Application. Only the residency-related questions will remain to be answered and submitted.)
  
  
• Do students need to agree to "terms" that they understand the noncredit status? 
• Does CCCApply need to incorporate a disclaimer that noncredit students are completing the noncredit application?
  (Feedback: Currently, this requirement is not included in the first iteration for March 2019.)

*This would mean they would be restricted to noncredit only and could not transition without reapplying and being classified for residency.

College Implementation

The Noncredit Path is designed to be an optional user/stand-alone application , meaning implementation and use policies are determined by the college or district (or the Chancellor's Office).

• The college determines if they want to implement the Noncredit Application
• The college determines how they want to implement the Noncredit Application
• The college identifies the noncredit student. (IMPORTANT: The NC Application does not identify noncredit students.)
• The college sets policies around tracking the noncredit students admission application
• The college determines if the student can (or should) complete the Standard or Noncredit version of the application.
• The college tracks residency status for all students, including noncredit students
• The college tracks transitioning students from noncredit to credit status

Setting Up the Noncredit Application

Downloading Noncredit Applications

Running Reports on Noncredit Applications

Suggested Use Cases

Proposed Solution

Objectives

Design and implement a streamlined variation of the online Standard Application for students enrolling exclusively in Noncredit courses

that is free from the CCC residency-determination questions and

The application should have a unique URL for tracking purposes that sets the Noncredit applicant on a residency-exempt "path" through the Standard Application

hiding all questions that are not specifically required by local, state, and federal mandate or required to identify the student's personal information and CCC student ID account. 

APPLICATION WORKFLOW

The Noncredit workflow is basically a custom residency-free variation of the Standard Application, and all pre-application and post-submission workflows are exactly the same

In the first version of the application - college-configured Terms and Majors (and Major Categories) are the same as your Standard Application (configured in the Administrator)

Noncredit Rules and Messages can be configured in the Administrator under the Standard application

Noncredit applications can be "reset" for download using the same module in the Administrator

The student's submitted Noncredit applications will appear in their "My Applications" page for Standard Applications and In-Progress applications behave the same as in the Standard Application

QUESTIONS ON THE PATH

The Noncredit application path is basically a custom, Noncredit version of the Standard Application, showing only the questions that are required for the Noncredit applicant - everything else functions the same

All Standard Application questions that are hidden (not required) to the Noncredit applicant will store a "null" response value in your existing Standard Application download file

The Noncredit application uses the same database as the Standard Application - all data fields are the same 

All questions that appear in the Noncredit workflow are the same as the Standard Application and uses the same data fields from the same submitted applications and in-progress databases

DOWNLOADS

Noncredit submitted applications are downloaded the same way as your current Standard Applications, using the same Download Client (or College Adapter for SuperGlue)

Noncredit submitted app data will be included in your existing Standard Application downloads (submitted applications)

The Noncredit applications do not require a separate set of download files

Other than adding the new data fields* to your existing Format Definition XML file and running the Download Client Jar update file (as usual), there are no special implementation requirements for and no separate download file for this implementation

The Standard Application Job XML doesn't need to change either (again, Noncredit Apps will be included in all existing download processes) (there is not a separate download file or process with the Noncredit application)

ADMIN CONFIGURATION & REPORTING

as the college's Standard Application implementation

TRACKING

Users of the Noncredit application are tracked in the following ways:

URL:  The unique college-branded URL tracks the workflow path

Report Center: Noncredit submitted application data is stored in the Report Center under the Submitted Applications folders and reports 

Noncredit Status Field:  A new field is being added to track the Noncredit application status (<non_credit> = T or F) - which is set when the applicant uses the Noncredit URL and completes/saves the Enrollment page

Noncredit Application Confirmation Numbers: for submitted and in-progress Noncredit applications will have the following format:  NC-12345 (each Noncredit application confirmation number - and App ID - will begin with "NC-")

Residency Status Field:

Integrity Flag (81):

By implementing the new Noncredit workflow via separate URL process, users  will not be adding a self-identifying question to the application - there will be, in effect, two front doors (URLs) to the same application. The colleges will be responsible for managing/distributing the different URLs to students.

The goal of the CCCApply Redesign Workgroup is to implement a solution by March 1, 2019 - possibly a short-term solution until the next version of CCCApply is developed (tentative TBD 2020 release)  in order to support students applying for Fall 2019 classes. The Workgroup put together a sub-committee to review which questions were no longer required now that residency determination is no longer required for Noncredit students. One such meeting was held on October 11, 2018, which reviewed the language in the assembly bill and the objectives of the Workgroup.  The change requirements that resulted from one or more meetings are outlined (detailed) in the Change Requirements section below.

Additional Information

Stakeholder Feedback

• CCCApply Noncredit Application Sub-Committee
• CCCApply User Group (Steering Committee)
• Colleges via CCCAdmissions Listserv

1. The CCCApply Standard Application should be used for all students: Credit and Noncredit
   
   
2. Revise the CCCApply Standard application to include two workflow paths, one that determines residency (existing Standard Application path) and one that is exempt from residency determination (new Noncredit path).
   The two workflow paths should be:
   
   
1. Standard Credit Path (includes residency determination) - This is for students seeking college credits for courses taken at a California community college. 
   This is the current Standard application - including all existing logic, services, field and error validation, pre- and post-submission services and processes (no change to the residency algorithm submission calculation service). 
   
   
2. Noncredit Path: (does not include residency determination) - This is for students seeking to enroll exclusively in career development and college preparation courses, and other courses for which NO credit is given. This "path" will be a variation of the Standard Application and will be accessed from a separate, unique URL that uses "skip logic" to hide certain pages and questions, and collects only the data required by the federal government, state law, or that is otherwise necessary to uniquely identify the student during the application process. 
   
   To comply with AB3101, this path will bypass/exempt the student from residency determination, including the residency submission calculation service, and only display a set of questions that are required by the federal government, state law, or that are otherwise necessary to uniquely identify the student, during the application process.
   
   
3. The Standard "Credit" path will function exactly like the current, existing Standard application; no significant changes have been identified for the existing, residency path.
   1. If the applicant intends to enroll in one or more college credit course(s), they will use the existing college-branded application URL (or the generic, unauthenticated version via MyPath) and complete all questions required to determine California residency; and questions required by the federal government, state law, and other necessary requirements; 
   2. The Standard "Credit" workflow path will not change how it calculates the residency status implemented today;
   3. The Standard "Credit" workflow path will not change any post-submissions processes, web services, calculations (residency, AB540, financial aid) etc. 
      
       
4. The Noncredit path SHOULD include the following questions required by state, local & federal mandates, as well as questions required to identify the student
   1. All questions in the OpenCCC Account will be required to identify the student at the college, for OpenCCC account creation (CCCID) and account recovery, for federal IRS requirement
   2. All questions on the Enrollment page (Term, Ed Goal, and Major) will be required 
   3. All questions on the Account Info/Mailing page are included - including the "Dependency Status" (Minors) question
   4. All questions on the Education page are included
   5. All questions on the Demographic Information page are included
   6. All questions on the Review, Consent & Submit page are included in the NC workflow
      
      
5. The Noncredit path SHOULD NOT include the following questions required exclusively to determine residency, or that are not required at the time of application
   
   1. The Citizenship & Military page will be removed completely - (all questions in the Citizenship section)
   2. The Residency page will be removed completely - (all questions in the Military Status section)
   3. The following questions may be removed from the Needs & Interests page:
      1. Main Language section: Are you comfortable reading and writing English?
      2. Financial Assistance section:
         1. Are you interested in receiving information about money for college?
         2. Are you receiving TANF/CalWORKs, SSI, or General Assistance?
      3. Athletic Interest set of fields:
         1. Are you interested in participating in a sport while attending college?
            1. Yes, I am interested in participating in one or more sports, including the possibility of participating of playing on an intra-collegiate team.
            2. Yes, I am interested in intramural or club sports, but not in playing on an intercollegiate team.
            3. No, I am not interested in participating in a sport (beyond taking a P.E. classes).
               
               
               

6. Residency Status Field Requirements
   To comply with the new residency exemption for Noncredit students in AB3101, we need to revise the Residency Status field to include a value for "exempt" status. We willdo the following:

   • Add a new value of "N" to the Residency Status field <res_status> for "Noncredit / exempt".
   • Ensure all applicants via the "Noncredit Application" default to the exempt status.
7. Add a new field to identify Noncredit applications from Standard (credit) Applications:
   1. Noncredit Status:  <non_credit>
   2. Boolean field
8. Add a New Integrity Flag (81) for "Noncredit / Residency Exempt"
   • Upon check if Noncredit flag is set, then set the residency status to N and trigger an int flag of 81.
   • Hard code res_area A,B,C,D to "9". "9" means a student is not eligible in that area so using 9 would be an appropriate value in this use case.
   • Add integrity_fg_81 to the Download Client, Admin Rules, and Report Center.
   • Add to Apply submit-ws and integration testing with college adaptor.

Allow Students To Apply For Same Term - Exclusively For Non Credit Students

We need to Implement logic to allow a Noncredit status student to re-apply to the same term, same college using the "credit" version of CCCApply, if they plan to transition from NC to Credit status.

NOTE: Currently - CCCApply does not allow an applicant to submit more than one application to the same Term at the same college. For this proposal to work, we'd need to allow this process (be able to submit another application).

1. We need to implement logic in CCCApply to allow aNoncredit student ONLY to re-apply (submit another application) to the same college for the same Term in order to transition from "Noncredit" status to "Credit" status (in order to change their intention from enrolling exclusively in Noncredit courses to enroll in one or more college credit courses). Note - this applies to transitioning from Noncredit to credit at any college/any terms - not just the same college/same term. 
2. Logic should be in place to prevent a duplicate status from being submitted.  Example, if first application was for Noncredit, they should only be able to re-apply as a Credit status.
3. We should not allow a duplicate Credit application to be submitted to the same term/same college.
4. To re-apply as a credit status (to transition from Noncredit status to credit status) the student would have to use the college's Standard application URL.

Additional Requirements & Considerations

Workflow Considerations

The bullets below include additional requirements and considerations that need to be included in the overall implementation.  Can you think of any other ones?

ENSURE THAT....

• The "Noncredit Application" has a college-branded, tiny-URL redirect and an official name 
• Each college must have a unique URL
• Colleges need to be able to easily identify that the student completed the NC path in their downloads/reports
• We need to figure out any/all download client issues
• The Noncredit path should still function and adhere to all existing CCCApply standard application pre- and post-submission functionality, logic, and processes; such as:
  • All applications should still start the same way as they do today - from the My Applications page (started or resumed) or auto-direct from Account Creation (new Account applicants)
  • All applications must be able to be Saved and Resumed at any time
  • Resumed from the My Applications page 
  • Must still be auto-populated when a returning applicant starts a new application in CCCApply within 2 years of last application submitted
  • Adhere to all post-submission pages, processes, web services, and activities
  • Auto-populated from previously submitted application data 

Considerations for students on the NC workflow path...

• Must still see and respond to the Review App / "Consent to Release Information" / Submit page
• Must still go through the Electronic Signature process (VERY important)
• Must still Submit their application
• Must still see the Confirmation page with all existing confirmation data (CCCID, confirmation number, etc.)
• Must still see the Student Satisfaction Survey 
• Must still see the Special Links & Opportunities page (TBD)
• Must still be redirected into MyPath if college has adopted MyPath
• Must still be routed through the Spam Filter web service and all other integrated post-submission web services (CCGI, CDE, student profile, etc.)
• Must be included in the Download Client, Super Glue Jar files and all data must appear in the Report Center
• Must still integrate with the CCCApply Administrator for the configuration of custom Terms, Majors, Major Categories, Spam Filter, Reset Downloads
• Must still appear in the Submitted Applications and/or Resume Your Application tables in the My Applications page 

Implementation & Communication Requirements

The bullets below represent requirements that should be considered for communicating this change to colleges and the system overall.  Can you think of any other ones?

• Communication with SIS vendors is CRITICAL - We must have a plan in place by end of November to get their buy-in.
• Communication with colleges is CRITICAL - We must have a plan in place by end of November to get their buy-in.
• Colleges MUST be informed about this impending change ASAP - We must have a plan in place by end of November to get their buy-in.

Supporting Documentation

Assembly Bill 3101

Read the full Assembly Bill language.

Archive: Sub-Committee & Workgroup Meeting Notes

This design proposal for this project has gone through multiple revisions. To avoid confusion, sub-committee discussions and meeting notes have been moved to a separate page for reference purposes.  See Noncredit Sub-Committee Meeting Discussions

2018 CCCApply Redesign Project - Noncredit Application

PREVIOUS YEARS:  2016 - 2018 Noncredit Sub-Committees and Discussions