SENATE BILL REPORT

SB 5941

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Background: In 2011, via E2SHB 1795, the Legislature granted tuition-setting authority to the four-year institutions of higher education for all students, through the 2018-19 academic year. Beginning in the 2015-16 through 2018-19 academic years, the institutions are granted tuition-setting authority, within limits, based on a state funding baseline year and funding for similar higher education institutions in the Global Challenge States. In the 2019-20 academic year, tuition-setting authority for resident students at public baccalaureate institutions reverts to the Legislature.

Tuition for community and technical college students is set by the Legislature in the operating budget, although the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) may authorize differential tuition models, except during the 2011-13 biennium.

In the 2012 supplemental operating budget, the Legislature directed that tuition be uniform for resident undergraduate students at the four-year institutions through the 2011-13 biennium.

Summary of Bill: For the 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years, resident undergraduate tuition at the four-year institutions and the community and technical colleges must be 3 percent below the resident undergraduate tuition fees for the 2012-13 academic year. For SBCTC, beginning in the 2015-16 academic year, increases in resident undergraduate tuition must not exceed inflation. For the four-year institutions of higher education, beginning in the 2015-16 academic year through the 2018-19 academic year, increases in resident undergraduate tuition must not exceed inflation.

If SB 5936 (Higher ed appropriations) becomes law, then in any fiscal year that per-resident student baseline funding levels are not met, the public institutions of higher education, the governing boards of the four-year institutions, and SBCTC may increase resident undergraduate tuition for the ensuing academic year by an amount not to exceed the amount necessary to achieve the baseline funding levels specified in SB 5936.

Language is removed that granted tuition-setting authority to the four-year institutions of higher education through 2018-19 within limits based on a state funding baseline year and funding for similar higher education institutions in the Global Challenge States.