The Florida Senate

239.117  Postsecondary student fees.--

(1)  This section applies to students enrolled in workforce development programs who are reported for funding through the Workforce Development Education Fund, except that college credit fees for the community colleges are governed by s. 240.35.

(2)  All students shall be charged fees except students who are exempt from fees or students whose fees are waived.

(3)  The following students are exempt from any requirement for the payment of registration, matriculation, and laboratory fees for adult basic, adult secondary, or vocational-preparatory instruction:

(a)  A student who does not have a high school diploma or its equivalent.

(b)  A student who has a high school diploma or its equivalent and who has academic skills at or below the eighth grade level pursuant to state board rule. A student is eligible for this exemption from fees if the student's skills are at or below the eighth grade level as measured by a test administered in the English language and approved by the Department of Education, even if the student has skills above that level when tested in the student's native language.

(4)  The following students are exempt from the payment of registration, matriculation, and laboratory fees:

(a)  A student enrolled in a dual enrollment or early admission program pursuant to s. 239.241.

(b)  A student enrolled in an approved apprenticeship program, as defined in s. 446.021.

(c)  A student for whom the state is paying a foster care board payment pursuant to s. 409.145(3) or pursuant to parts II and III of chapter 39, for whom the permanency planning goal pursuant to part III of chapter 39 is long-term foster care or independent living, or who is adopted from the Department of Children and Family Services after December 31, 1997. Such exemption includes fees associated with enrollment in vocational-preparatory instruction and completion of the college-level communication and computation skills testing program. Such exemption shall be available to any student adopted from the Department of Children and Family Services after December 31, 1997; however, the exemption shall be valid for no more than 4 years after the date of graduation from high school.

(d)  A student enrolled in an employment and training program under the WAGES Program. The local WAGES coalition shall pay the community college or school district for costs incurred for WAGES clients.

(e)  A student who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence or whose primary nighttime residence is a public or private shelter designed to provide temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized, or a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

(f)  A student who is a proprietor, owner, or worker of a company whose business has been at least 50 percent negatively financially impacted by the buy-out of property around Lake Apopka by the State of Florida. Such a student may receive a fee exemption only if the student has not received compensation because of the buy-out, the student is designated a Florida resident for tuition purposes, pursuant to s. 240.1201, and the student has applied for and been denied financial aid, pursuant to s. 240.404, which would have provided, at a minimum, payment of all student fees. The student is responsible for providing evidence to the postsecondary education institution verifying that the conditions of this paragraph have been met, including support documentation provided by the Department of Revenue. The student must be currently enrolled in, or begin coursework within, a program area by fall semester 2000. The exemption is valid for a period of 4 years from the date that the postsecondary education institution confirms that the conditions of this paragraph have been met.

(5)  School districts and community colleges may waive fees for any fee-nonexempt student. The total value of fee waivers granted by the school district or community college may not exceed the amount established annually in the General Appropriations Act. Any student whose fees are waived in excess of the authorized amount may not be reported for state funding purposes. Any school district or community college that waives fees and requests state funding for a student in violation of the provisions of this section shall be penalized at a rate equal to 2 times the value of the full-time student enrollment reported.

(6)(a)  The Commissioner of Education shall provide to the State Board of Education no later than December 31 of each year a schedule of fees for workforce development education for school districts and community colleges. The fee schedule shall be based on the amount of student fees necessary to produce 25 percent of the prior year's average cost of a course of study leading to a certificate or diploma and 50 percent of the prior year's cost of a continuing workforce education course. At the discretion of a school board or a community college, this fee schedule may be implemented over a 3-year period, with full implementation in the 1999-2000 school year. In years preceding that year, if fee increases are necessary for some programs or courses, the fees shall be raised in increments designed to lessen their impact upon students already enrolled. Fees for students who are not residents for tuition purposes must offset the full cost of instruction. Fee-nonexempt students enrolled in vocational-preparatory instruction shall be charged fees equal to the fees charged for certificate career education instruction. Each community college that conducts college-preparatory and vocational-preparatory instruction in the same class section may charge a single fee for both types of instruction.

(b)  The State Board of Education shall adopt a fee schedule for school districts that produces the fee revenues calculated pursuant to paragraph (a). The schedule so calculated shall take effect, unless otherwise specified in the General Appropriations Act.

(c)  The State Board of Education shall adopt, by rule, the definitions and procedures that school boards shall use in the calculation of cost borne by students.

(7)  Each year the State Board of Community Colleges shall review and evaluate the percentage of the cost of adult programs and certificate career education programs supported through student fees. For students who are residents for tuition purposes, the schedule so adopted must produce revenues equal to 25 percent of the prior year's average program cost for college-preparatory and certificate-level workforce development programs and 50 percent of the prior year's program cost for student enrollment in continuing workforce education. Fees for students who are not residents for tuition purposes must offset the full cost of instruction.

(8)  Each school board and community college board of trustees may collect, for financial aid purposes, up to an additional 10 percent of the student fees collected for workforce development programs funded through the Workforce Development Education Fund. All fees collected shall be deposited into a separate workforce development student financial aid fee trust fund of the district or community college to support students enrolled in workforce development programs. Any undisbursed balance remaining in the trust fund and interest income accruing to investments from the trust fund shall increase the total funds available for distribution to workforce development education students. Awards shall be based on student financial need and distributed in accordance with a nationally recognized system of need analysis approved by the State Board for Career Education. Fees collected pursuant to this subsection shall be allocated in an expeditious manner.

(9)  A district school board or a community college board of trustees may charge other fees only as authorized by rule of the State Board of Education or the State Board of Community Colleges.

(10)  The State Board of Education and the State Board of Community Colleges shall adopt rules to allow the deferral of registration and tuition fees for students receiving financial aid from a federal or state assistance program when such aid is delayed in being transmitted to the student through circumstances beyond the control of the student. The failure to make timely application for such aid is an insufficient reason to receive a deferral of fees. The rules must provide for the enforcement and collection or other settlement of delinquent accounts.

(11)  Any veteran or other eligible student who receives benefits under chapter 30, chapter 31, chapter 32, chapter 34, or chapter 35 of Title 38, U.S.C., or chapter 106 of Title 10, U.S.C., is entitled to one deferment each academic year and an additional deferment each time there is a delay in the receipt of benefits.

(12)  Each school district and community college shall be responsible for collecting all deferred fees. If a school district or community college has not collected a deferred fee, the student may not earn state funding for any course for which the student subsequently registers until the fee has been paid.

(13)  Any school district or community college that reports students who have not paid fees in an approved manner in calculations of full-time equivalent enrollments for state funding purposes shall be penalized at a rate equal to 2 times the value of such enrollments. Such penalty shall be charged against the following year's allocation from the Florida Workforce Development Education Fund or the Community College Program Fund and shall revert to the General Revenue Fund. The State Board of Education shall specify, in rule, approved methods of student fee payment. Such methods must include, but need not be limited to, student fee payment; payment through federal, state, or institutional financial aid; and employer fee payments.

(14)  Each school district and community college shall report only those students who have actually enrolled in instruction provided or supervised by instructional personnel under contract with the district or community college in calculations of actual full-time enrollments for state funding purposes. A student who has been exempted from taking a course or who has been granted academic or vocational credit through means other than actual coursework completed at the granting institution may not be calculated for enrollment in the course from which the student has been exempted or for which the student has been granted credit. School districts and community colleges that report enrollments in violation of this subsection shall be penalized at a rate equal to 2 times the value of such enrollments. Such penalty shall be charged against the following year's allocation from the Workforce Development Education Fund and shall revert to the General Revenue Fund.

(15)  School boards and community college boards of trustees may establish scholarship funds using donations. If such funds are established, school boards and community college boards of trustees shall adopt rules that provide for the criteria and methods for awarding scholarships from the fund.

(16)  School boards and community college boards of trustees may establish, by rule, a consumable supply fee for postsecondary students enrolled in certificate career education or supplemental courses.

(17)  Each school board and community college board of trustees may establish a separate fee for capital improvements, technology enhancements, or equipping buildings which may not exceed 5 percent of the matriculation fee for resident students or 5 percent of the matriculation and tuition fee for nonresident students. Funds collected by community colleges through these fees may be bonded only for the purpose of financing or refinancing new construction and equipment, renovation, or remodeling of educational facilities. The fee shall be collected as a component part of the registration and tuition fees, paid into a separate account, and expended only to construct and equip, maintain, improve, or enhance the certificate career education or adult education facilities of the school district or community college. Projects funded through the use of the capital improvement fee must meet the survey and construction requirements of chapter 235. Pursuant to s. 216.0158, each school board and community college board of trustees shall identify each project, including maintenance projects, proposed to be funded in whole or in part by such fee. Capital improvement fee revenues may be pledged by a board of trustees as a dedicated revenue source to the repayment of debt, including lease-purchase agreements and revenue bonds, with a term not to exceed 20 years, and not to exceed the useful life of the asset being financed, only for the new construction and equipment, renovation, or remodeling of educational facilities. Community colleges may use the services of the Division of Bond Finance of the State Board of Administration to issue any bonds authorized through the provisions of this subsection. Any such bonds issued by the Division of Bond Finance shall be in compliance with the provisions of the State Bond Act. Bonds issued pursuant to the State Bond Act shall be validated in the manner provided by chapter 75. The complaint for such validation shall be filed in the circuit court of the county where the seat of state government is situated, the notice required to be published by s. 75.06 shall be published only in the county where the complaint is filed, and the complaint and order of the circuit court shall be served only on the state attorney of the circuit in which the action is pending. A maximum of 15 cents per credit hour may be allocated from the capital improvement fee for child care centers conducted by the school board or community college board of trustees.

History.--s. 8, ch. 92-136; s. 2, ch. 95-392; s. 60, ch. 96-175; s. 4, ch. 97-169; ss. 34, 39, 44, ch. 97-246; s. 19, ch. 97-307; s. 1, ch. 97-383; s. 9, ch. 98-58; s. 22, ch. 98-280; s. 1, ch. 98-300; s. 3, ch. 98-421.