Senate Bill No. 166
(By Senator Deem)
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[Introduced January 13, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18B-10-1 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to tuition and fees at institutions
of higher education; and authorizing each higher education
governing board to increase fees of students taking more hours
of course work than the number of hours of course work defined
as full time.
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 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 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) An institution 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 systemwide and institutional debt
service and future systemwide 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, an institution
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.
© 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 student's
attorney to perform legal services for students in civil matters at
the institutions: Provided, That the legal services are limited
only to those types of cases, programs or services approved by the
administrative head of the institution where the legal services are
to be performed.
(d) The commission and council jointly shall propose a rule
for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of
article three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to govern the
fixing, collection and expenditure of tuition and other fees.
(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 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
the provisions of this subsection.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivisions (1) and (2)
of this subsection, a governing board may increase the fees of
undergraduate students taking more than sixteen hours in a regular
term pro rata based upon one twelfth of the full-time rate per
credit hour and a governing board may increase the fees of graduate
students taking more than nine credit hours in a regular term pro
rata based upon one ninth of the full-time rate per credit hour.
(g) 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 the awarding of 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
if the finances of a student are affected adversely.
(4) The commission and council jointly shall propose a rule in
accordance with the provisions of article three-a, chapter twenty-
nine-a of this code defining conditions under which an institution
may offer tuition and fee deferred payment plans through the
institution or through third parties.
(5) An institution may charge interest or fees for any
deferred or installment payment plans.
(h) 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) Institutions shall retain tuition and fee revenues not
pledged for bonded indebtedness or other purposes in accordance
with the tuition rule proposed by the commission and council
jointly pursuant to this section. The tuition rule shall:
(1) Provide a basis for establishing nonresident tuition and
fees;
(2) Allow institutions to charge different tuition and fees
for different programs;
(3) Provide that a board of governors may 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;
© 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;
(E) The commission, council or both, as appropriate, shall
certify to the Legislature annually by October 1 the amount of fees
collected for each of the five years;
(4) Establish methodology, where applicable, to ensure that, within the appropriate time period under the compact, community and
technical college tuition rates for community and technical college
students in all independently accredited community and technical
colleges will be commensurate with the tuition and fees charged by
their peer institutions.
(j) A penalty may not be imposed by the commission or council
upon any institution 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 institutions shall report
annually to the commission or council on the numbers of
nonresidents and such other enrollment information as the
commission or council may request.
(k) Tuition and fee increases of the governing boards, except
for the governing boards of the state institutions of higher
education known as Marshall University and West Virginia
University, are subject to rules adopted by the commission and
council jointly pursuant to this section and in accordance with the
provisions of article three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
(1) Subject to the provisions of subdivisions (4) and (8) of
this subsection, a governing board of an institution under the
jurisdiction of the commission may propose tuition and fee increases of up to nine and one-half percent for undergraduate
resident students for any fiscal year. The nine and one-half
percent total includes the amount of increase over existing tuition
and fees, combined with the amount of any newly established
specialized fee which may be proposed by a governing board.
(2) A governing board of an institution under the jurisdiction
of the council may propose tuition and fee increases of up to four
and three-quarters percent for undergraduate resident students for
any fiscal year, except a governing board may propose increases in
excess of four and three-quarters percent if existing tuition and
fee rates at the institution are below the state average for
tuition and fees at institutions under the jurisdiction of the
council. The four and three-quarters percent total includes the
amount of increase over existing tuition and fees, combined with
the amount of any newly established, specialized fee which may be
proposed by a governing board.
(3) The commission or council, as appropriate, shall examine
individually each request from a governing board for an increase.
(4) Subject to the provisions of subdivision (8) of this
subsection, the governing boards of Marshall University and West
Virginia University, as these provisions relate to the state
institutions of higher education known as Marshall University and
West Virginia University, each may annually:
(A) Increase tuition and fees for undergraduate resident students to the maximum allowed by this section without seeking
approval from the commission; and
(B) Set tuition and fee rates for post-baccalaureate resident
students and for all nonresident students, including establishing
regional tuition and fee rates, reciprocity agreements or both.
© The provisions of this subdivision do not apply to tuition
and fee rates of the administratively linked institution known as
Marshall Community and Technical College, the administratively
linked institution known as the Community and Technical College at
West Virginia University Institute of Technology, the regional
campus known as West Virginia University at Parkersburg and, until
July 1, 2007, the regional campus known as West Virginia University
Institute of Technology.
(5) Any proposed tuition and fee increase for state
institutions of higher education other than the state institutions
of higher education known as Marshall University and West Virginia
University requires the approval of the commission or council, as
appropriate. In determining whether to approve or deny the
governing board's request, the commission or council shall
determine the progress the institution has made toward meeting the
conditions outlined in this subdivision and shall make this
determination the predominate factor in its decision. The
commission or council shall consider the degree to which each
institution has met the following conditions:
(A) Has maximized resources available through nonresident
tuition and fee charges to the satisfaction of the commission or
council;
(B) Is consistently achieving the benchmarks established in
the compact of the institution pursuant to the provisions of
article one-a of this chapter;
© Is continuously pursuing the statewide goals for post-
secondary education and the statewide compact established in
articles one and one-a of this chapter;
(D) Has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the commission or
council that an increase will be used to maintain high-quality
programs at the institution;
(E) Has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the commission or
council that the institution is making adequate progress toward
achieving the goals for education established by the southern
regional education board; and
(F) To the extent authorized, will increase by up to five
percent the available tuition and fee waivers provided by the
institution. The increased waivers may not be used for athletics.
(6) This section does not require equal increases among
institutions or require any level of increase at an institution.
(7) The commission and council shall report to the Legislative
Oversight Commission on Education Accountability regarding the
basis for each approval or denial as determined using the criteria established in subdivision (5) of this subsection.
(8) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivisions (1) and (4)
of this subsection, tuition and fee increases at state institutions
of higher education which are under the jurisdiction of the
commission, including the state institutions of higher education
known as Marshall University and West Virginia University, are
subject to the following conditions:
(A) Institutions may increase tuition and fees for resident,
undergraduate students by no more than an average of seven and one-
half percent per year during any period covering four consecutive
fiscal years, with the first fiscal year of the first four fiscal-
year cycle beginning on July 1, 2007;
(B) The seven and one-half percent average cap does not apply
to an institution for any fiscal year in which the total state base
operating budget appropriations to that institution are less than
the total state base operating budget appropriations in the fiscal
year immediately preceding;
© A new capital fee or an increase in an existing capital fee
is excluded from the tuition and fee increase calculation in this
subdivision:
(I) If the new fee or fee increase is approved by an
institutional governing board or by a referendum of an
institution's undergraduate students, or both, on or before
February 1, 2006; or
(ii) If the following conditions are met:
(I) The new fee or fee increase was approved by an
institutional governing board or by a referendum of an
institution's undergraduate students, or both, on or before July 1,
2006;
(II) The institution for which the capital fee is approved has
been designated a university pursuant to the provisions of section
six, article two-a of this chapter by the effective date of this
section; and
(III) The institutional board of governors previously oversaw
a community and technical college that achieved independent
accreditation and consequently acquired its own board of governors;
(D) Institutions shall provide, in a timely manner, any data
on tuition and fee increases requested by the staff of the
commission. The commission shall:
(I) Collect the data from any institution under its
jurisdiction; and
(ii) Annually by July 1, provide a detailed analysis of the
institutions' compliance with the provisions of this subdivision to
the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize each higher
education governing board to increase fees of students taking more
hours of course work than the number of hours of course work
defined as full-time.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.