BILL REQ. #:  S-1854.2 

READ FIRST TIME 02/22/07.   

     AN ACT Relating to tuition setting authority; amending RCW 28B.15.067; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that it is imperative for Washington citizens to have access to higher education. A well-educated citizenry is essential to both Washington's public well-being and its economic future. The legislature further finds that affordability is a key factor in whether Washington citizens have access to higher education. At a time when college is more important than ever to a person's educational and economic well-being, rising tuition costs make the dream of going to college even harder to realize. Tuition and fees at the University of Washington have increased eighty-two percent over the past ten years. During the same time, the cost of consumer goods increased on average twenty-two percent and Washington's personal income increased by forty percent. Washington was recently given a D- for affordability by the national center for public policy and higher education. It is the legislature's intent that tuition levels should be predictable for families, students, and institutions, and limiting the amount by which it can be raised will assist in that endeavor.

Sec. 2   RCW 28B.15.067 and 2006 c 161 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Tuition fees shall be established under the provisions of this chapter.
     (2) Beginning with the 2003-04 academic year and ending with the ((2008-09)) 2006-07 academic year, reductions or increases in full-time tuition fees for resident undergraduates shall be as provided in the omnibus appropriations act.
     (3) Beginning with the 2003-04 academic year and ending with the 2008-09 academic year, the governing boards of the state universities, the regional universities, The Evergreen State College, and the state board for community and technical colleges may reduce or increase full-time tuition fees for all students other than resident undergraduates, including summer school students and students in other self-supporting degree programs. Percentage increases in full-time tuition fees may exceed the fiscal growth factor. Reductions or increases may be made for all or portions of an institution's programs, campuses, courses, or students.
     (4) Academic year tuition for full-time students at the state's institutions of higher education beginning with 2009-10, other than summer term, shall be as charged during the 2008-09 academic year unless different rates are adopted by the legislature.
     (5) The tuition fees established under this chapter shall not apply to high school students enrolling in participating institutions of higher education under RCW 28A.600.300 through 28A.600.400.
     (6) The tuition fees established under this chapter shall not apply to eligible students enrolling in a community or technical college under RCW 28C.04.610.
     (7) For the academic years 2003-04 through 2008-09, the University of Washington shall use an amount equivalent to ten percent of all revenues received as a result of law school tuition increases beginning in academic year 2000-01 through academic year 2008-09 to assist needy low and middle income resident law students.
     (8) For the academic years 2003-04 through 2008-09, institutions of higher education shall use an amount equivalent to ten percent of all revenues received as a result of graduate academic school tuition increases beginning in academic year 2003-04 through academic year 2008-09 to assist needy low and middle-income resident graduate academic students.
     (9) Beginning with the 2007-08 academic year and ending with the 2016-17 academic year, tuition fees charged to full-time resident undergraduate students may increase no greater than five and one-half percent over the previous academic year in any institution of higher education. Annual reductions or increases in full-time tuition fees for resident undergraduate students shall be as provided in the omnibus appropriations act, within the five and one-half percent increase limit established in this section. To the extent that state appropriations combined with tuition and fee revenues are insufficient to achieve the total per-student funding goals established in subsection (10) of this section, the legislature may authorize enrollment levels and changes in tuition fees for any given fiscal year.
     (10) The state shall adopt as its goal total per-student funding levels, from state appropriations plus tuition and fees, of at least the sixtieth percentile of total per-student funding at similar public institutions of higher education in the global challenge states. The office of financial management shall develop a funding trajectory for each four-year institution of higher education and for the community and technical college system as a whole that when combined with tuition and fees revenue allows the state to achieve its funding goal for each four-year institution and the community and technical college system as a whole no later than fiscal year 2017. The state shall not reduce enrollment levels below fiscal year 2007 budgeted levels in order to improve or alter the per-student funding amount at any four-year institution of higher education or the community and technical college system as a whole.
     (11) By September 1st of each year beginning in 2008, the office of financial management shall report to the governor, the higher education coordinating board, and appropriate committees of the legislature with updated estimates of the total per-student funding level that represents the sixtieth percentile of funding for comparable institutions of higher education in the global challenge states, and the progress toward that goal that was made for each of the public institutions of higher education.
     (12) As used in this section, "global challenge states" are the top performing states on the new economy index published by the progressive policy institute as of the effective date of this section.