HB 2057

Washington State House of Representatives Office of Program Research	BILL ANALYSIS

Higher Education Committee

HB 2057

Brief Description: Changing waiver authority limits for regional universities and The Evergreen State College.

Sponsors: Representatives Kenney, Upthegrove, Cox, Sommers, Chase, Schual-Berke, Haigh and Holmquist.

Brief Summary of Bill

Makes the maximum percentage of tuition revenue waived by Central and Eastern Washington Universities for state-supported tuition waivers equal to the percentage waived at Western Washington University: 10 percent.

Increases the maximum percentage for The Evergreen State College from 6 to 8 percent.

Hearing Date: 2/22/05

Staff: Barbara McLain (786-7383).

Background:

The Legislature grants higher education institutions permission to reduce all or a portion of tuition for certain types of students and for various purposes. Most tuition waivers fall under the category of "state-supported" waivers, where it is assumed that state general fund dollars in the institution's base budget make up for lost tuition revenue resulting from the waiver. There is a statutory cap for each institution on the percentage of total tuition revenue that may be waived for state-supported waivers. The percentage caps were created in statute in 1992 based on the amount of tuition revenue each institution was waiving at that time.

The statutory caps for state-supported waivers for each institution are:

21 percent University of Washington;
20 percent Washington State University;
8 percent Central Washington University;
11 percent Eastern Washington University;
10 percent Western Washington University;
6 percent The Evergreen State College; and
35 percent Community and Technical College System.

Institutions are required to report state-supported waiver activity each biennium. For the 2004 fiscal year, $131 million was waived for 188,859 students in the state-supported waiver category.

Summary of Bill:

The percentage of gross tuition revenues Central Washington University is authorized to waive in the state-supported waiver category is increased from 8 to 10 percent. The percentage for Eastern Washington University is decreased from 11 to 10 percent, and the percentage for The Evergreen State College is increased from 6 to 8 percent.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Not requested.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.