Noncredit Application Workflow Change Requirements


Need

Existing law requires each student to be classified as a resident or nonresident at a California community college [for instruction provided to the student at the CCCs]. 

However, the recently passed Assembly Bill 3101 (AB3101) exempts a student seeking to enroll exclusively in career development and 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, providing colleges with an electronic admission application that exempts noncredit students from the residency determination, and only collects data that is required by the federal gov, state law, or that is otherwise necessary at the time of application.

 



Change Requirements

 

The CCCApply Standard Application should be used for all students: Credit and Noncredit. 
To get to the "Noncredit workflow path" - the version with a path that has NO residency questions or residency calculation service - the student should start the application process from the "Noncredit URL". A noncredit student who finds they need to take a "credit" class (after already applying using the Noncredit Application) should return to the college's CCCApply application link and submit a Standard Application - from the "Standard App URL" - for the same term, at the same college. 

One Application - Two Workflow Paths

 

  • Revise the CCCApply Standard application to include two workflow paths, one that determines residency for students taking ‘for credit’ courses (Standard), and one that is exempt from residency determination exclusively for students enrolling in noncredit courses (Noncredit).

     

The two workflows should be:

  • Standard Credit Path (includes residency determination) - 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). 

  • Noncredit Path: (does not include residency determination) - For students seeking to enroll exclusively in career development and college preparation courses, and other courses for which NO credit is given, this "path" is a variation of, and workflow within, the Standard Application - accessed from a separate, unique URL - that uses skip logic to hide 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 admission application process. 

    To comply with AB3101, this path does not include pages, questions, field logic calculations that determines residency status, including the residency submission calculation service,  and will 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.


  • The Standard "Credit" path (Standard Application) will function exactly as it does today; no significant changes have been identified for the existing, residency path 

    • 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; 

    • The Standard "Credit" workflow path will not change how it calculates the residency status implemented today;

    • The Standard "Credit" workflow path will not change any post-submissions processes, web services, calculations (residency, AB540, financial aid) etc. 


NOTE: Any/all proposed changes to the Standard "Credit" path will be detailed in separate change requests. For the purposes of this document, all changes are proposed for the Noncredit path only.

Questions Included in the Noncredit Path

  • 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 included 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 included 

    3. All questions on the Account Info/Mailing page will be included - including the "Dependency Status" (Minors) question

    4. All questions on the Education page will be included

    5. All questions on the Demographic Information page will be included

    6. All questions on the Review, Consent & Submit page will be included

Questions NOT included in the Noncredit Path

  • 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).


Residency Status Change Requirements

  • Residency Status Field Requirements

    To comply with the new residency-determination exemption for noncredit students as outlined in AB3101, we need to revise the Residency Status field to include a value for noncredit "exempt" status. We need to do the following:

    • Add a new value of "N" to the Residency Status field <res_status> for "noncredit / exempt".

    • Ensure all applicants that apply via the "Noncredit Application" default to this new exempt status.


  • Hard code residency areas A, B, C, D with new value "9" for Noncredit App

    • Add new value "9" to res_area A, B, C, D = area logic was not run; no area status

    • Hard code res_area A,B,C,D to "9". "9" means a student is not eligible in that area.



New Noncredit Data Fields

  • Add a "Noncredit" status field:  <non_credit>

    • New "non_credit" field acts as a True/False flag that is set to "True" if the applicant applies using the new Noncredit URL

    • New "non_credit" field will be downloadable and will appear in the Report Center

    • New "non_credit" URL will add a special prefix to the Confirmation number = "NC-" to help identify noncredit submitted applications


  • Upon check if noncredit flag is set (if <non_credit> = True then set the residency status <res_status> = "N" and trigger new integrity flag 81.Add a New Integrity Flag (81) for "Noncredit / Residency Exempt"

    • Add new integrity flag 81 to alert Admissions & Records that the applicant applied using the Noncredit application

    • Integrity Flag 81 = "Applicant applied using the Noncredit Application URL"

    • Add integrity_fg_81 to the Download Client

    • Add to Apply submit-ws and integration testing with college adaptor.

Transitioning From Noncredit to Credit Status

  • Implement logic to allow a noncredit student to re-apply to the same term, same college using the Standard Application, if they plan to transition from NC to Credit status

NOTE:  For Standard Applicants Only - CCCApply does not allow an applicant to submit more than one application to the same Term at the same college.  However, with the implementation of the "Noncredit" application path, this logic has been modified to allow a Noncredit Applicant Only to submit both a Noncredit and Standard (Credit) applications, if needed, for the same term at the same college. Colleges do not need to do anything for this change; other than being aware that this restriction has been lifted for Noncredit applicants only. 

  1. Implement logic in CCCApply to allow a noncredit applicant 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 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 continue to not allow a duplicate credit application to be submitted to the same term/same college.

  4. To re-apply as a credit status, the student should apply using the college's Standard Application.  


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" is optional to colleges that want to use it - and that don't want to use it.

  • The "Noncredit Application" has a unique URL - different than the Standard Application URL.

  • Confirmation numbers for applications submitted via the Noncredit URL should be unique - different than the Standard Application confirmation numbers (and App ID numbers). 

  • Each college must have a unique URL for their Noncredit Application based on their MIS code or domain.

  • We need to figure out all changes to the download file, such as:

    • Would there be any reason to change their current download file? 

    • We need to look at each field being hidden in the noncredit workflow (i.e., citizenship status, military status, all the residency page fields, etc.) and make sure they can be blank in the download file

    • Ensure the Glue team is made aware of all requirements that might affect the Glue jar file and identify all required changes (if any)

  • The Noncredit path should still include all existing standard application pre- and post-submission web services, functionality, logic, and processes; such as:

    • All NC applications should start the same way as Standard Apps do - from a college-specific URL

    • NC applications should start or resume from the My Applications page; or auto-directed from OpenCCC Account Creation (new Account applicants)

    • All NC applications must be able to be Saved and Resumed at any time

    • All NC must still be auto-populated when a returning applicant starts a new application in CCCApply within 2 years of last application submitted

    • All NC apps must adhere to all post-submission pages, processes, web services, and activities

During the Application process, a student 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 screen with all existing confirmation data (CCCID, confirmation number, etc.)

  • Must still see the Student Satisfaction Survey 

  • Must still see the Special Links & Opportunities page

  • Must still be redirected into MyPath if college has adopted MyPath

  • Must still be routed through the Spam Filter web service and all other post-submission web services (CCGI, CDE, student profile, etc.)

  • Must still be downloaded using 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