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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Trujillo

DATE TYPED 3/01/05

HB 513/aHEC

SHORT TITLE Fee & Tuition Waiver for Certain CYFD Clients

SB

ANALYST Williams

REVENUE

Estimated Revenue

Subsequent

Years Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

Very large; see text Recurring Other State Funds –

Tuition and Fee

Revenue

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

Relates to various student financial aid and lottery scholarship bills

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Commission on Higher Education (CHE)

Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HEC Amendment

The House Education Committee amendment clarifies eligible students are those in the legal or

physical custody of CYFD. Further, the amendment reduces the period for tuition and fee

waiver eligibility to four calendar years.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 513 authorizes a new section of statute which provides for tuition and fee waivers at

all public, post-secondary institutions for eligible Children, Youth and Families Department

(CYFD) clients. Eligibility is defined as:

•

Meeting institutional academic admission criteria;

•

A one-year eligibility window between high school graduation (or general equivalency

degree receipt) and enrollment in college;

•

College enrollment status as a full-time student;

House Bill 513/aHEC -- Page 2

•

Maintenance of a 2.5 grade point average; and

•

Is currently or was in the custody of CYFD on the eighteenth birthday.

The tuition and fee waiver is authorized for five calendar years and would apply as students may

transfer from one public, post-secondary institution to another within the state.

The bill also includes other technical, clean-up amendments to statute.

Significant Issues

CYFD notes the bill provides an additional after-care support service and benefit for clients in-

creasing the likelihood of successful transition to adulthood.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

CYFD notes the bill would positively impact the number of juvenile justice and child welfare

clients entering post-secondary institutions, the single best predictor of non-recidivism.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The bill does not contain an appropriation.

The potential fiscal impact of the bill as written is indeterminant but potentially very large. The

fiscal impact results from the language authorizing a tuition and fee waiver for anyone who is or

was in the custody of CYFD at the time of reaching age 18. The cost of the waiver program

would result in a reduction to other state funds, effectively reducing tuition and fee revenues of

public, post-secondary institutions.

See alternatives for a mechanism to reduce the potential cost.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

CHE notes the bill does not specifically address the cost of attendance during the first semester.

The Lottery Tuition Scholarship program does not address tuition costs during the first semester

of attendance, but most institutions provide “bridge” scholarships for tuition for the first semester

until the 2.5 grade point average eligibility criteria is determined.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Eligibility requirements specified in the bill are similar to the lottery tuition scholarship program

in the following ways:

•

Meeting institutional academic admission criteria;

•

College enrollment status as a full-time student; and

•

Maintenance of a 2.5 grade point average.

The proposed tuition and fee waiver program differs from the lottery tuition scholarship program

as follows:

•

Fees are included in the tuition waiver program

House Bill 513/aHEC -- Page 3

•

A one-year eligibility window between high school graduation (or general equivalency

degree receipt) and enrollment in college; and

•

Is currently or was in the custody of CYFD on the eighteenth birthday.

ALTERNATIVES

If the legislature’s intent is to restrict the tuition waiver program to current and future CYFD cli-

ents, then an amendment would be needed, specifically,

On page 5, lines 19 and 20: strike the words following the word “is,” through line 20 the word

“was,”.

In this case, CYFD advises about half of their juvenile justice clients might turn eighteen in a

given year, or roughly 200 children. Further, the Protective Services Division Fact Book notes

about 5 percent of Child Protective Services clients are between 16 and 17 years old, while an-

other 4 percent are 18 or older. Thus, one might offer a scenario under which about 7 percent of

the roughly 2,100 clients in the child welfare program, or 147 children, might be eligible. The

total would be approximately 347, but one might assume only half of these students would con-

tinue on to college, reflective of the state average. Thus, roughly 170 students per year might be

eligible.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

1.

Is it the legislature’s intent to authorize the tuition and fee waiver program to all indi-

viduals who might have turned eighteen in the custody of CYFD. Or is the intent to of-

fer the program on a going-forward basis.

AW/yr