BILL REQ. #:  S-1940.2 

Read first time 03/07/11.   Referred to Committee on Higher Education & Workforce Development.

     AN ACT Relating to tuition fees for students with excess credits or prior degrees; and adding a new section to chapter 28B.15 RCW.

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:
     (1) For any student who possesses a baccalaureate degree before enrollment at a community or technical college, tuition fees shall equal a sum not less than the cost of instruction unless the student is a dislocated worker as defined in RCW 50.04.075 or a person engaging in a job training program under the purview of the work force training and education coordinating board.
     (2) For resident undergraduate students who have accumulated more than one hundred twenty-five percent of the number of credits required to complete their respective baccalaureate degree at a state university, regional university, or The Evergreen State College, tuition fees shall equal a sum not less than the cost of instruction. It is presumed that increased tuition fees will apply to all resident undergraduate students unless the student presents to his or her registrar evidence that one or more of the following conditions apply:
     (a) The student is a dislocated worker as defined in RCW 50.04.075 or a person engaging in a job training program under the purview of the work force training and education coordinating board;
     (b) The student participates in the border county higher education opportunity project under RCW 28B.76.685; or
     (c) The student is a certificated teacher pursuing continuing education credits according to certification requirements.
     (3) Students who believe they are under extraordinary or unforeseen academic or personal circumstances or were unable to complete their baccalaureate degree program within the number of credits specified due to institutional constraints may petition the institution of attendance for a special waiver from the tuition provision of subsection (2) of this section. The institution shall create a process through which student petitions may be fairly processed, heard, and determined. The process shall include a one hundred dollar administrative fee. The entire amount of the fee shall be refunded for those students who make a successful petition.
     (4) Credits earned through advanced placement programs shall not be applied to the total accumulated for the purposes of this section.
     (5) For the purposes of this section, "cost of instruction" means the average instructional support in state funds plus tuition fees per full-time equivalent undergraduate, at each respective institution of higher education for the prior academic year, as disclosed by the higher education coordinating board under RCW 28B.76.300.