WEST virginia
legislature
2017 regular session
By
[
to the Committee on Education then Finance.
A BILL to amend and
reenact §18B-10-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to
permitting the governing body to charge tuition on certain credit hours.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18B-10-1 of the
Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 10. FEES AND
OTHER MONEY COLLECTED AT STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.
§18B-10-1. Enrollment,
tuition and other fees at education institutions; refund of fees.
(a) Each governing board
shall fix tuition and other fees for each academic term for the different
classes or categories of students enrolling at the state institution of higher
education under its jurisdiction and may include among the tuition and fees any
one or more of the following as defined in section one-b of this article:
(1) Tuition and required
educational and general fees;
(2) Auxiliary and auxiliary
capital fees; and
(3) Required educational
and general capital fees.
(b) A governing board may
establish a single special revenue account for each of the following
classifications of fees:
(1) All tuition and
required educational and general fees collected;
(2) All auxiliary and
auxiliary capital fees collected; and
(3) All required
educational and general capital fees collected to support existing system-wide
and institutional debt service and future system-wide and institutional debt
service, capital projects and campus renewal for educational and general
facilities.
(4) Subject to any
covenants or restrictions imposed with respect to revenue bonds payable from
the accounts, a governing board may expend funds from each special revenue
account for any purpose for which funds were collected within that account
regardless of the original purpose for which the funds were collected.
(c) The purposes for which
tuition and fees may be expended include, but are not limited to, health
services, student activities, recreational, athletic and extracurricular
activities. Additionally, tuition and fees may be used to finance a students' attorney to perform legal services for students in
civil matters at the institutions. The legal services are limited to those
types of cases, programs or services approved by the president of the
institution where the legal services are to be performed.
(d) By October 1, 2011, the
commission and council each shall propose a rule for legislative approval in
accordance with article three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to govern
the fixing, collection and expenditure of tuition and other fees by the
governing boards under their respective jurisdictions.
(e) The schedule of all
tuition and fees, and any changes in the schedule, shall be entered in the
minutes of the meeting of the appropriate governing board and the board shall
file with the commission or council, or both, as appropriate, and the
Legislative Auditor a certified copy of the schedule and changes.
(f) The governing boards
shall establish the rates to be charged full-time students, as defined in
section one-b of this article, who are enrolled during a regular academic term.
(1) Undergraduate students
taking fewer than twelve credit hours in a regular term shall have their fees
reduced pro rata based upon one twelfth of the full-time rate per credit hour
and graduate students taking fewer than nine credit hours in a regular term
shall have their fees reduced pro rata based upon one ninth of the full-time
rate per credit hour.
(2) Fees for students
enrolled in summer terms or other nontraditional time periods shall be prorated
based upon the number of credit hours for which the student enrolls in
accordance with this subsection.
(g) The governing boards
may charge full-time students, as defined in section one-b of this article, who
are enrolled during a regular academic term taking more than fifteen credit hours
in a regular term a rate of up to one half of the pro rata cost of a full-time
rate per credit hour above the fifteenth credit hour.
(g) (h) All fees are due and payable by the
student upon enrollment and registration for classes except as provided in this
subsection:
(1) The governing boards
shall permit fee payments to be made in installments over the course of the
academic term. All fees shall be paid prior to awarding course credit at the
end of the academic term.
(2) The governing boards
also shall authorize the acceptance of credit cards or other payment methods
which may be generally available to students for the payment of fees. The
governing boards may charge the students for the reasonable and customary
charges incurred in accepting credit cards and other methods of payment.
(3) If a governing board
determines that a student's finances are affected adversely by a legal work
stoppage, it may allow the student an additional six months to pay the fees for
any academic term. The governing board shall determine on a case-by-case basis
whether the finances of a student are affected adversely.
(4) The commission and
council jointly shall propose a rule in accordance with article three-a,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code defining conditions under which a governing
board may offer tuition and fee deferred payment plans itself or through third
parties.
(5) A governing board may
charge interest or fees for any deferred or installment payment plans.
(h) (i) In addition to the other fees provided in
this section, each governing board may impose, collect and distribute a fee to
be used to finance a nonprofit, student-controlled public interest research
group if the students at the institution demonstrate support for the increased
fee in a manner and method established by that institution's elected student
government. The fee may not be used to finance litigation against the
institution.
(i) (j) Governing boards shall retain tuition and
fee revenues not pledged for bonded indebtedness or other purposes in accordance
with the tuition rules proposed by the commission and council pursuant to this
section. The tuition rules shall address the following areas:
(1) Providing a basis for
establishing nonresident tuition and fees;
(2) Allowing governing
boards to charge different tuition and fees for different programs;
(3) Authorizing a governing
board to propose to the commission, council or both, as appropriate, a
mandatory auxiliary fee under the following conditions:
(A) The fee shall be
approved by the commission, council or both, as appropriate, and either the
students below the senior level at the institution or the Legislature before
becoming effective;
(B) Increases may not
exceed previous state subsidies by more than ten percent;
(C) The fee may be used
only to replace existing state funds subsidizing auxiliary services such as
athletics or bookstores;
(D) If the fee is approved,
the amount of the state subsidy shall be reduced annually by the amount of
money generated for the institution by the fees. All state subsidies for the
auxiliary services shall cease five years from the date the mandatory auxiliary
fee is implemented;
(4) Establishing
methodology, where applicable, to ensure that, within the appropriate time
period under the compact, community and technical college tuition rates for
students in all community and technical colleges will be commensurate with the
tuition and fees charged by their peer institutions.
(j) (k) A penalty may not be imposed by the
commission or council upon any governing board based upon the number of
nonresidents who attend the institution unless the commission or council
determines that admission of nonresidents to any institution or program of
study within the institution is impeding unreasonably the ability of resident
students to attend the institution or participate in the programs of the
institution. The governing boards shall report annually to the commission or
council on the numbers of nonresidents and any other enrollment information the
commission or council may request.
(k) (l) Tuition and fee increases of the governing
boards, including the governing boards of Marshall University and West Virginia
University, are subject to rules adopted by the commission and council pursuant
to this section and in accordance with article three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a
of this code. The commission or council, as appropriate, shall examine
individually each request from a governing board for an increase and make its
determinations as follows:
(1) A tuition and fee
increase greater than five percent for resident students proposed by a
governing board requires the approval of the commission or council, as
appropriate.
(2) A fee used solely for
the purpose of complying with the athletic provisions of 20 U.S.C. 1681, et
seq., known as Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, is exempt from
the limitations on fee increases set forth in this subsection for three years
from the effective date of the section.
(3) In determining whether
to approve or deny a governing board's request for a tuition and/or fee
increase for resident students greater than the increases granted pursuant to
subdivision (1) of this subsection, the commission or council shall determine
the progress the governing board has made toward meeting the conditions
outlined in this subsection and shall make this determination the predominate
factor in its decision. The commission or council shall consider the degree to
which each governing board has met the following conditions:
(A) Maximizes resources
available through nonresident tuition and fee charges to the satisfaction of
the commission or council;
(B) Consistently achieves
the benchmarks established in the compact pursuant to article one-d of this
chapter;
(C) Continuously pursues
the statewide goals for post-secondary education and the statewide compact
established in this chapter;
(D) Demonstrates to the
satisfaction of the commission or council that an increase will be used to
maintain high-quality programs at the institution;
(E) Demonstrates to the
satisfaction of the commission or council that the governing board is making
adequate progress toward achieving the goals for education established by the
southern regional education board;
(F) Demonstrates to the
satisfaction of the commission or council that the governing board has
considered the average per capita income of West Virginia families and their
ability to pay for any increases; and
(G) Demonstrates to the
satisfaction of the commission or council that base appropriation increases
have not kept pace with recognized nation-wide inflationary benchmarks;
(4) This section does not
require equal increases among governing boards nor does it require any level of
increase by a governing board.
(5) The commission and
council shall report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education
Accountability regarding the basis for approving or denying each request as
determined using the criteria established in this subsection.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is
to permit community and technical colleges and universities to charge students
half the cost of a credit for every credit taken over the fifteenth hour.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.