FINAL BILL REPORT

HB 2973

C 183 L 10

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Creating resident student classifications for certain members of the military and their spouses and dependents.

Sponsors: Representatives Orcutt, Wallace, Herrera, Probst, McCune, Klippert, Kelley, Hunter, Kretz, Campbell and Johnson.

House Committee on Higher Education

Senate Committee on Higher Education & Workforce Development

Background:

Resident Student.

Classification as a resident qualifies a student to pay in-state tuition rates which are lower than nonresident rates. The statutory definition of resident student encompasses several categories of students, including:

• a financially independent student who has established a domicile in the state of Washington for one year immediately prior to the first day of class for which the student has registered and has established such domicile in this state for other than educational purposes;

• a dependent student whose parent or parents have maintained a domicile in Washington for one year prior to the start of class;

• a student who has spent at least 75 percent of his or her junior and senior years in a Washington high school and whose parents maintained a domicile in Washington for at least one year in the five-year period preceding the student's enrollment, and who enrolls in college within six months of leaving high school;

• any person who has completed his or her senior year in a Washington high school, received a high school diploma or its equivalent, continuously lived in Washington three years prior to receiving the diploma and continued to live in Washington after receipt, and who provides an affidavit indicating that he or she will file an application to become a permanent resident; and

• a student who is on active military duty stationed in this state or who is a member of the Washington National Guard, as well as his or her spouse or dependents.

Border County Higher Education Opportunity Project.

Columbia Basin Community College, Clark College, Lower Columbia Community College, Gray's Harbor Community College, and Walla Walla Community College may charge resident tuition rates to students who moved to Washington from an Oregon border county within the last 12 months and had lived in the border county for at least 90 days immediately prior to moving to Washington.

The Tri-Cities and Vancouver branch campuses of Washington State University may charge resident tuition rates to students who moved to Washington from one of these nine Oregon border counties provided that the student: (1) moved to Washington within the last 12 months; (2) lived in the border county for at least 90 days immediately prior to moving to Washington; and (3) is enrolled for eight credits or less.

The nine eligible Oregon border counties are Columbia, Multnomah, Clatsop, Clackamas, Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, and Washington.

Summary:

A student who resides in Washington and is on active military duty stationed in one of the nine Oregon border counties is considered a resident student and eligible to pay in-state tuition rates. Spouses and dependents of active military members stationed in one of the nine Oregon border counties and living in Washington are also eligible for in-state tuition rates as long as the spouse or dependent also resides in Washington. If the person on active military duty moves from Washington or is reassigned out of one of the nine Oregon border counties, his or her spouse or dependent maintains resident status as long as the spouse or dependent resides in Washington and is continuously enrolled in a degree program.

Votes on Final Passage: