Florida Senate - 2021                                    SB 1798
       
       
        
       By Senator Perry
       
       
       
       
       
       8-01365A-21                                           20211798__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to higher education; amending s.
    3         1009.26, F.S.; requiring a state university to waive
    4         the tuition and fees for certain courses in which
    5         certain resident students are enrolled; providing
    6         specified criteria for such waiver; providing
    7         applicability; prohibiting the reporting of tuition
    8         and fees waived for state funding purposes; requiring
    9         each state university to report certain information
   10         regarding such waiver to the Board of Governors
   11         annually; providing that a state university is
   12         ineligible for a specified performance-based incentive
   13         for failure to comply; requiring the board to adopt
   14         regulations; providing an effective date.
   15  
   16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   17  
   18         Section 1. Subsection (18) is added to section 1009.26,
   19  Florida Statutes, to read:
   20         1009.26 Fee waivers.—
   21         (18)(a) Beginning with the 2021-2022 academic year, for
   22  every course in a program of strategic emphasis in which a
   23  student pays the full tuition and fees, a state university shall
   24  waive 100 percent of the tuition and fees for another course in
   25  a program of strategic emphasis for a student who:
   26         1. Is a resident for tuition purposes under s. 1009.21.
   27         2. Initially enrolls full-time at a state university for
   28  the fall academic term immediately following high school
   29  graduation.
   30         3. Earns at least 60 semester credit hours towards a
   31  baccalaureate degree within 2 years after initial enrollment.
   32         4. Enrolls in a program of strategic emphasis in one of the
   33  following categories as identified by the Board of Governors:
   34         a. Science, technology, engineering, or math.
   35         b. Critical workforce education.
   36         c. Critical workforce healthcare.
   37         d. Critical workforce and undersupplied.
   38         (b) A waiver granted under this subsection is applicable
   39  only for upper-level courses and up to 110 percent of the number
   40  of required credit hours of the baccalaureate degree program for
   41  which the student is enrolled.
   42         (c) Tuition and course fees waived under this subsection
   43  may not be reported for state funding purposes.
   44         (d) Each state university shall report to the Board of
   45  Governors the number and value of all waivers granted annually
   46  under this subsection. A state university that fails to comply
   47  with the requirements of this section is ineligible for the
   48  State University System Performance-Based Incentive under s.
   49  1001.92.
   50         (e) The Board of Governors shall adopt regulations to
   51  administer this subsection.
   52         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.