BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Kevin de León, Chair SB 290 (Knight) - Veterans: Nonresident tuition exemption Amended: May 1, 2013 Policy Vote: Education 9-0 Urgency: No Mandate: No Hearing Date: May 13, 2013 Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: SB 290 exempts a student enrolling in the California State University (CSU), or University of California (UC) who was a member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed in this state on active duty for more than one year immediately prior to being discharged from paying nonresident tuition for up to one year if he or she files an affidavit with the enrolling campus stating that he or she intends to establish residency in California as soon as possible, if that student uses this exemption within 2 years of being discharged. Fiscal Impact: The cost of this bill's nonresident tuition exemption to the UC and CSU depends upon the number of veterans that meet the narrow requirements to qualify for the exemption. This bill is likely to result in significant revenue loss to the CSU and UC. Background: Existing law establishes uniform residency requirements for purposes of determining the amount of fees to be paid by students at the UC, the CSU, and California community colleges (CCC) and establishes various exceptions to these residency requirements, including the following: 1) A member of the Armed Forces who is stationed in the state on active duty, except a member assigned for educational purposes. (Education Code § 68075) 2) A member of the Armed Forces who is transferred to another state but continuously enrolled at a college in California. (EC § 68075) 3) A student who is a dependent of a member of the Armed Forces stationed in this state on active duty. (EC § SB 290 (Knight) Page 1 68074) 4) A student dependent of a member of the Armed Forces may keep his or her resident classification until he or she has resided in the state for the minimum time necessary to become a resident in the event the member of the Armed Forces upon whom they are dependent is transferred outside of the state or retires as an active member of the Armed Forces. (EC § 68072) Existing law, recently enacted by AB 2478 (Hayashi) Ch. 405/2012 provides, for purposes of CCC fees a former member of the Armed Forces can utilize the one-year nonresident fee exemption within two years of being discharged provided the former member of the Armed Forces has filed an affidavit with the CCC stating his or her intention to establish residency in California as soon as possible. (EC § 68075.5) Proposed Law: SB 290 provides that a student enrolling in the CSU or UC who was a member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed in California on active duty for more than one year immediately prior to being discharged from paying nonresident tuition for up to one year if he or she files an affidavit with the community college stating that he or she intends to establish residency in California as soon as possible, if that student uses this exemption within 2 years of being discharged. Staff Comments: SB 290 extends the nonresident tuition exemption provided to a narrow subset of veterans enrolling in CCCs to that same demographic seeking to enroll in the CSU or UC. This bill exempts veterans formerly stationed in California, who intend to reside in the state, from paying nonresident tuition at CSU and UC. Each affected veteran enrolling as an undergraduate in the CSU would be eligible to pay $5,472 per year, instead of $5,472 + $372 per unit (which would be an additional $11,160 per year for two 15-unit course load semesters). Each affected veteran enrolling as an undergraduate in the UC would be eligible to pay $12,192 instead of $35,070, a difference of $22,878. The number of veterans who will be eligible to benefit from this bill is not known, but it likely to be very small (although, the SB 290 (Knight) Page 2 number may increase with this additional benefit). The CSU has indicated it currently serves approximately 350 nonresident veterans. If even 10% of them meet the other eligibility criteria in this bill to qualify for in-state tuition under this bill, and were full-time students, revenue loss to the CSU would be nearly $400,000. Recommended Amendments: The author may wish to clarify whether this exemption would apply only to undergraduate enrollment, or whether it applies also to graduate, credential, and professional program tuition.