BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2250
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Date of Hearing: May 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2250 (Gaines) - As Amended: May 3, 2012
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:9-0
Veterans Affairs 8-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill provides that a student, or their spouse, who served
in the Armed Forces for at least 36 months and received an
honorable discharge, is exempt from paying non-resident tuition
for their first full year of continuous enrollment at the
California Community Colleges (CCC), the California State
University (CSU), and the University of California (UC) if the
student files an affidavit with the college stating they intend
to establish residency in California.
FISCAL EFFECT
The bill will result in revenue losses and additional
administrative costs for each of the segments.
1)UC enrolled about 950 veterans in 2010-11. UC indicates that
18 of 752 undergraduate student veterans paid non-resident
tuition. The additional cost of non-resident tuition for these
students is $22,878. In the first year after this bill is
enacted, these students would be eligible for in-state
tuition, yielding a revenue loss of $412,000. Thereafter, it
is assumed that each cohort of first-year students would
benefit from this bill. Assuming five first-year students each
year, the annual revenue loss would be $115,000. Regarding
graduate students, UC indicates that 42 of 197 student
veterans paid non-resident tuition in 2010-11, at an
additional cost of between $12,245 and $15,102. Revenue losses
associated with these students would be between $514,000 and
$634,000 in the first year, and assuming 20 new qualifying
graduate students annually, would be $245,000 and $302,000.
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UC also indicates that it would incur significant
administrative costs to implement the bills requirements. UC's
applications for admissions do not include any questions to
determine if someone is the spouse of an eligible veteran and
would thus have to be changed. Those claiming the resident
tuition benefit would have to be verified as eligible. Given
the numerous different application forms for undergraduates,
graduates, and professional degrees, one-time administration
costs, including modification to information systems, are
estimated at around $100,000 per campus.
2)CSU enrolled about 6,450 veterans in 2010-11. The additional
cost of non-resident tuition at CSU is $11,160. CSU indicates
that 179 veterans or veteran's dependents were paying
non-resident tuition. Assuming two-thirds of these were
veterans who could benefit under this bill, in the first year
after this bill is enacted, these students would be eligible
for in-state tuition, yielding a revenue loss of $1.3 million.
Thereafter, it is assumed that each cohort of first-year
students would benefit from this bill. Assuming 25 first-year
students each year, the annual revenue loss would be around
$280,000.
3)The CCC enrolled about 44,700 veterans in 2010-11. The
difference between resident and non-resident fees at the CCC
is $133 per unit. For a full-time student (30 units in an
academic year) the additional fee revenue to the CCC is
$4,000. The number of these veterans currently paying
non-resident fees is unknown, but is believed to be quite low.
For every 100 full-time equivalent non-resident student
veterans who are able to benefit from this bill, the annual
revenue loss would be $400,000.
CSU and CCC would also have unknown additional administrative
costs to comply with the bill. The CCC costs would be state
reimbursable.
The assumptions above are probably low, as this benefit (a)
extends to spouses of veterans and (b) could over time attract
more non-resident veterans to California's public colleges and
universities, as only a few other states have a similar policy.
COMMENTS
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1)Background . Current law establishes the requirements for
determining residency in order to qualify for paying the
lower-cost in-state tuition and student fees at UC, CSU, and
CCC. To qualify for the California resident fees, students are
generally required to have resided in the state for more than
one year immediately preceding the residence determination
date and undertake other specified actions such as registering
to vote or registering one's car in California.
The Post 9/11 GI Bill will only pay the resident tuition cost
for a student, thus to use this benefit, out-of-state student
veterans are currently faced with the choice of waiting to
establish residency before enrolling in school or finding
another source of funds (including from out of pocket) to
cover the difference between resident and non-resident
tuition. Current law does allow students who were on active
duty in California for at least one year immediately prior to
their discharge to pay in-state tuition and fees.
2)Purpose . This bill would also allow out-of-state veterans and
their spouses to pay in-state tuition rates, as long as they
demonstrate intent to establish residency. According to the
author, "This legislation is necessary as a large amount of
soldiers are coming back from the War on Terror and we need to
make higher education for them a priority."
3)Concern . With the significant reductions in state support to
all three segments and the resulting tuition/fee increases and
enrollment reductions, is this the time to bestow a benefit on
non-resident veterans-and their spouses-that would result in
further revenue losses to the segments and competition with
California residents struggling to get courses?
4)Related Legislation . AB 2478 (Hayashi), also on today's
committee agenda, provides that a community college student
who was stationed in California for more than one year
immediately prior to being discharged is exempt from paying
nonresident fees for up to four years, instead of just one
year, upon filing an affidavit with the college stating their
intent to establish residency as soon as possible.
5)Prior Legislation . AB 2472 (Wyland) of 2006, which was similar
to this bill, was held on this committee's Suspense file.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
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