Legislator introduces bill to reimburse campuses for tuition waivers

Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, said he is working on a bill to guarantee funding to reimburse colleges and universities for constitutionally mandated tuition waivers, a move, he said, that could increase recruitment to Montana University System schools.

He said the Montana University System Board of Regents already takes tuition waivers into account in the budget and refunds the money for the waivers, although it is not mandated.

Bachmeier said that if these funds are guaranteed, as his House Bill 254 would do, money will always be behind these waivers so colleges and universities will be able to recruit more students who qualify.

In order to qualify for these tuition waivers students must be Native American, veterans or orphans of police officer or firefighters.

These are a great way to recruit students and contribute to communities, he said.

Montana State University-Northern public information officer Jim Potter said during a teleconference Friday with legislators in Helena that about 25 percent of Northern's student body uses the waivers, with Native Americans making up 18 percent.

Northern Financial Services Director Chris Wendland said Native American tuition waivers alone equal $416,746 at the university.

Last Friday, Bachmeier spoke at a hearing with the Education Committee proposing his bill.

He said after the hearing that it went well, with the Associated Students of Montana, Native Western Vote and the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes testifying. He added that a few Republicans from the Appropriations Committee also testified at the hearing.

Bachmeier said that during the hearing, members of the House Education Committee showed little opposition, although the bill should have been sent to the House Appropriations Committee due to the nature of the bill. He added that the bill is not a policy change but creating an appropriation.

Moving forward, he said, ideally it is passed out of Education Committee, voted on the floor on a second reading and sent to appropriations. If it is passed out of appropriations it would be sent back to the floor for third and final reading before being transmitted to the Senate.

"I think it has a better chance of getting through appropriations than it does the Educations Committee, actually," Bachmeier said.

He added that he will find out some time this week what the vote will be on the bill.

To his knowledge, Bachmeier said, the impact to Northern's campus from the waivers totals approximately $486,000.

Northern does a good job recruiting students who qualify for these tuition waiver, but if the bill is passed they would be able to recruit even more students, he said.

The bill would create an account separate from the operating fund of the Board of Regents, although they would still have access to that account, he said. The account would then be spent specifically on reimbursing each individual campus for their tuition waivers, he added.

Bachmeier said this could lead to money being freed up within the budget, allowing colleges and universities to do a variety of things.

Bear Paw Development Corp. Executive Director and Board of Regents member Paul Tuss said that with his experience, Bachmeier's bill is a solid piece of legislation, although, he understands funding for the bill may be an obstacle.

The Board of Regents has strongly encouraged colleges and universities to diversify their student body, increasing Native American students and other students who qualify for the tuition waivers, he said. A great example of a university which has been successful of this is Northern, he added.

The issue is that by increasing the students who qualify for tuition waivers it is difficult for universities to have adequate funding, Tuss said.

Bachmeier's bill makes it so the board "puts its money where its mouth is," Tuss said.

Bachmeier recognizes issues with recruiting and retaining students, Tuss said, and his bill says the state needs to assure colleges and universities they will be paid for students who are attending under the waivers.

In his experience with the Board of Regents, every dollar counts, he said.

He added that waivers for Native Americans, orphans of police officers and firefighters, and veterans are highly appropriate but recruiting them shouldn't penalize colleges and universities. Colleges and universities should not fall behind for having a large amount of diversity within their student body.

"Every dollar counts, every nickel counts," Tuss said.

If this bill is passed more funding can go toward deferred maintenance and to adequate pay for staff and faculty, Tuss said.

"It's a dollar that I can guarantee you will be used wisely," he said.

The question is where the funding would come from - money is not growing on trees, he added.