Title: An act relating to tuition waivers for community college apprenticeship programs.

Brief Description: Authorizing community colleges to deduct certain payments from tuition waivers.

Sponsors: House Committee on Higher Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Sells, Campbell, Fromhold, McCoy and Chase).

Brief History: Passed House: 3/08/05, 96-2.

Committee Activity: Early Learning, K-12 & Higher Education: 3/30/05, 3/31/05 [DP].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EARLY LEARNING, K-12 & HIGHER EDUCATION

Majority Report: Do pass.Signed by Senators McAuliffe, Chair; Pridemore, Vice Chair; Weinstein, Vice Chair; Schmidt, Ranking Minority Member; Benton, Berkey, Carrell, Delvin, Eide, Mulliken, Rasmussen, Schoesler and Shin.

Staff: Heather Lewis-Lechner (786-7448)

Background: Under current statutory law, community and technical colleges have the authority to offer both graded and ungraded courses in order to meet the needs of the communities and students they serve. The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges has established rules regarding ungraded courses including what qualifications the ungraded courses must meet and the amount of tuition and fees the colleges may waive for certain types of ungraded courses. Under those rules colleges may waive one-half of the standard per credit tuition and fees for the ungraded courses offered for the purpose of satisfying related or supplemental educational requirements for apprentices.

Community colleges may contract with private entities to provide the supplemental education requirements for apprentices. When the college contracts for these courses, the state funding for the courses is sent by the college to the apprenticeship trust to pay for the instruction of the students. The trust pays, on behalf of the student, the tuition owed by the student back to the community college. Under current regulations, the college may not deduct the tuition owed by the student from the funds it is sending to the apprenticeship trust.

Summary of Bill: Community and technical colleges are allowed to deduct the tuition owed from the funds they are sending the trust under the training contract with the apprentice organizations at the request of the apprenticeship organization.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Not requested.

Committee/Commission/Task Force Created: No.

Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For: This bill is just a simplification of the current accounting process used by the community colleges and apprenticeship trusts. There are a number of schools who will not do what is allowed in this bill because they think current law does not allow it and this bill will allow them to use a better process. The SBCTC supports this change as well.

Testimony Against: None.

Who Testified: PRO: Representative Sells, prime sponsor; Bill McKenna, Carpenters Apprenticeship; Ed Triezenberg, Carpenters Union; Chris Reykdal, SBCTC