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 §  








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               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  








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          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.