Olympia Updates

Legislation that would permanently allow WSU freedom to waive some or all tuition costs for students faces a crucial legislative test in the House Appropriations Committee. This legislation, which was supported by WSU in testimony before the committee Saturday, is commonly known in Olympia circles as the "West Waiver Bill." It is named after State Sen. Jim West, R-Spokane, the sponsor of the bill. The legislation is co-sponsored by Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, and Sen. Larry Sheahan, R-Rosalia. It attempts to reform a complex set of laws known as "tuition waivers." The Council of Faculty Representatives and the Associated Students of WSU also support the bill.

Washington institutions of higher education are authorized to waive all or a portion of tuition for specific types of students, up to a limit specified in statute. The limits, also called "caps," range from six percent of all tuition collected to 35 percent. Washington State University is limited to 21 percent. The statutes specify that the recipients of these waivers are certain groups such as selected veterans and military employees, graduate service appointments, and residents of states with reciprocity. These laws only allow the university to exercise complete discretion on 2 percent of the waivers.

An important change came last year when Sen. West convinced the Legislature to grant temporary authority to each institution to ignore the percentage limits and waive all or a portion of tuition for any student group. WSU particularly targeted meritorious students, such as students with high grade point averages. Unfortunately, without the passage of Senate Bill 6010, that authority will end on June 30, 2001. SB 6010 would make the authority permanent.

WSU has already used the temporary authority to benefit hundreds of students that ordinarily would not be eligible to have a portion of their tuition waived. It is not so much that more tuition funds were waived (WSU is currently only $160,000 over the statutory 21 percent limit), but that the university had the flexibility to award it to more students. More than $1.4 million in waivers, many of them for merit, were awarded to students under the West language that would not have been allowed under the previous narrowly-drawn statutes.

Combining waiver authority with scholarships, WSU has been able to expand its University Achievement Award which offers up to $2,500 per year for two years for students with grade point averages of 3.6 and higher. Also, a new agreement WSU signed with the Washington National Guard relies on this new waiver authority. That agreement waives $1,500 in tuition for Guard members who become WSU students. Combined with other National Guard benefits, Guard members will be able to attend WSU tuition-free. The old system required limits on waivers for some categories such as activity duty military personnel. This system limited the number of active duty soldiers that WSU could accept and the amount of tuition that could be waived. WSU will be able to lift those limits if Senate Bill 6010 passes.

This expanded authority has no impact on the state general fund. The bill only gives WSU authority to waive tuition monies and does not require reimbursement from the state. But in fact, well-crafted WSU waivers often result in more tuition funds coming into the university. That`s because waiving a portion of tuition often nattracts a paying student to WSU who would not ordinarily attend.

The legislation passed the state Senate unanimously Feb. 9 and was approved by all eight members of the House Higher Education Committee including co-chairs Don Carlson, R-Vancouver, and Phyllis Kenney, D-Seattle. But the House has never passed the permanent legislation and the issue will be less familiar to those legislators. A hearing in front of the House Higher Education Committee earlier brought a barrage of questions. An amendment was added in the House that requires institutions to prepare a report of the costs and benefits of waivers granted under this act and submit it to the Legislature every two years. WSU prepares a report for its Board of Regents twice per year.

Monday, Feb. 28 is the final day for most bills to clear committees. The policy committees have already finished up their business and the House Appropriations Committee was holding hearings on some of its final bills Saturday. While most issues for WSU focus on the budget this session, there are a number of critical pieces of legislation that are important to the university. The next major deadline before adjournment is Friday, March 3, the last day for a bill to pass two houses of the Legislature. There will be some bills, probably including the supplemental operating budget, that will be in dispute during the final days of the session which is scheduled to end on March 9. With a 49-49 tie between Republicans and Democrats in the state House of Representatives, there is speculation that the first house to pass a budget will be the state Senate. There is also fear here that the legislative session will eventually go into overtime, running well passed the March 9 deadline. A special session, however, will not likely save most bills that fail to meet these scheduled "cut-off" dates.

This update is shared by fax and electronic mail to friends of Washington State University as state government developments occur regarding the 2000 Legislative Session. Contact Karen Fischer, 509/335-6665 to receive a copy. Call Larry Ganders at 360/956-2165 or send him a short pager message via e-mail to 3607863527@page.metrocall.com. From WSU Campuses, Dial 8-2165. e-mail: Ganders@energy.wsu.edu. Call Jane Yung in Olympia at 360/956-2164 or pager her at 360-956-8500. For bill status and other info, visit our web page at www.olympia.wsu.edu.