READ FIRST TIME 03/05/07.   

     AN ACT Relating to higher education costs; adding new sections to chapter 28B.15 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 28B.15 RCW to read as follows:
     TUITION--FUNDING LEVELS--LIMITATIONS. (1) 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 seven 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 seven 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 (2) of this section, the legislature may revisit state appropriations, authorized enrollment levels, and changes in tuition fees for any given fiscal year.
     (2) 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. In defining comparable per-student funding levels, the office of financial management shall adjust for regional cost-of-living differences; for differences in program offerings and in the relative mix of lower division, upper division, and graduate students; and for accounting and reporting differences among the comparison institutions. 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. The state recognizes that each four-year institution of higher education and the community and technical college system as a whole have different funding requirements to achieve desired performance levels, and that increases to the total per-student funding amount may need to exceed the minimum funding goal.
     (3) By September 1st of each year beginning 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.
     (4) 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. The new economy index ranks states on indicators of their potential to compete in the new economy. At least once every five years, the office of financial management shall determine if changes to the list of global challenge states are appropriate. The office of financial management shall report its findings to the governor and the legislature.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28B.15 RCW to read as follows:
     BILLING DISCLOSURES TO STUDENTS. In addition to the requirement in RCW 28B.76.300(4), institutions of higher education shall disclose to their undergraduate resident students on the tuition billing statement, in dollar figures for a full-time equivalent student: (1) The full cost of instruction, (2) the amount collected from student tuition and fees, and (3) the difference between the amounts for the full cost of instruction and the student tuition and fees, noting that the difference between the cost and tuition was paid by state tax funds and other moneys.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   CAPTIONS NOT LAW. Captions used in this act are not any part of the law.