COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

SENATE BILL NO. 429

(By Senators Lucht, Holliday, Dalton,

Grubb and Walker)

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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;

Reported March 23, 1993.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article ten, chapter eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to enrollment, tuition and fees; requiring governing boards of higher education to fix tuition and other fees; disposition of fees; maximum fees; filing the schedule of fees; student union building fees; requiring the governing boards to allow payment of fees in three or more installments and to accept payment by credit card or other payment methods; providing for interest and fees for installment payments, credit card services and other payment methods; allowing the governing boards to permit certain students adversely, financially affected by a legal work stoppage additional time to pay fees; and refund of fees.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article ten, chapter eighteen-b of thecode of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, 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 educational institutions; refund of fees.

(a) Each governing board shall fix tuition and other fees for each school term for the different classes or categories of students enrolling at each state institution of higher education under its jurisdiction and may include among the fees any one or more of the following: (1) Health service fees; (2) infirmary fees; (3) student activities, recreational, athletic and extracurricular fees, which may be used to finance a student's attorney to perform legal services for students in civil matters at the institutions: Provided, That the legal services shall be limited to only those types of cases, programs or services approved by the administrative head of the institution where the legal services are to be performed; and (4) graduate center fees and/or branch college fees, if the establishment and operations of graduate centers or branch colleges are otherwise authorized by law. All fees collected at any graduate center or at any branch college shall be paid into special funds and shall be used solely for the maintenance and operation of the graduate center or branch college at which they were collected: Provided, however, That the maximum fees to be collected under this section for resident students shall not exceed five hundred dollars per semester, and for nonresident students, one thousand dollars per semester. The schedule of all fees, and any changes in theschedule, shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting of the appropriate governing board, and the board shall file with the legislative auditor a certified copy of the schedule and changes.
(b) In addition to the fees mentioned in subsection (a) of this section, each governing board may impose and collect a student union building fee. All building fees collected at an institution shall be paid into a special student union building fund for the institution, which is hereby created in the state treasury and shall be used only for the construction, operation and maintenance of a student union building or a combination student union and dining hall building or for the payment of the principal of and interest on any bond issued to finance part or all of the construction of a student union building or a combination student union and dining hall building or the renovation of an existing structure for use as a student union building or a combination student union and dining hall building, all as more fully provided in section ten of this article. Any moneys in the funds not immediately needed for such purposes may be invested in any bonds or other securities as are now or hereafter authorized as proper investments for state funds.
(c) All fees are due and payable by the student upon enrollment and registration for classes except as provided for in this subsection.
(1) The governing boards shall permit fee payments to be made in three or more installments over the course of the academic term. The payments shall include interest at a rate set by the governing board: Provided, That all fees must be paid prior to the awarding of course credit at the end of the academicterm.
(2) The governing boards shall also authorize the acceptance of credit cards or other payment methods which may be generally available to students for the payment of fees: Provided, That 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 any student was adversely, financially affected by a legal work stoppage that commenced on or after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, it may allow the student an additional six months to pay the fees for any academic term: Provided, That the governing board shall determine if a student was adversely, financially affected on a case by case basis.
(d) Refund, as an erroneous payment, may be made of any fees upon the voluntary or involuntary withdrawal from classes of any student until eight weeks of the school semester or term have expired, but no refund may be made thereafter.