Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance

committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports

if they are used for other purposes.

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

SPONSOR Rawson

DATE TYPED 03/16/05 HB

SHORT TITLE In-state Tuition for National Guard Families

SB 921/aHEC

ANALYST Williams

REVENUE

Estimated Revenue

Subsequent

Years Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

Indeterminate,

but potentially

very large reve-

nue loss

Recurring Other State Funds –

Institutional Tuition

Revenues

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Commission on Higher Education (CHE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HEC Amendment

The House Education Committee amendment clarifies the reduced tuition authorizations are ap-

plicable only to active members of the armed forces, or their spouses, children or survivors.

Synopsis of Original Bill

The bill authorizes the assessment of in-state resident tuition for various component groups of

members of the armed forces and their families. Armed forces is defined as United States Army,

Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard. As well, the bill extends resident tuition to na-

tional guard spouses and children.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Data on the potential size of eligible individuals is not available at this time. However, Section

C of the bill which extends in-state tuition to any spouses or children of armed forces members

who die or are killed could be very expensive. The fiscal impact would be a reduction in tuition

revenue of post-secondary institutions, classified as other state funds.

Senate Bill 921/aHEC -- Page 2

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The legislature may wish to limit the authorizations for in-state tuition to eligible New Mexico

residents paying New Mexico income taxes.

The federal Veterans Benefits and Services administer the following educational benefit pro-

grams:

•

Tuition Assistance “Top-Up”. An amendment to the Montgomery GI Bill – Active Duty

education program permits the Veterans Administration to pay a Tuition Assistance Top-

up benefit. The amount of the benefit can be equal to the difference between the total

cost of a college course and the amount of tuition assistance paid by the military for the

course.

•

Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance Program (DEA). DEA provides

education and training opportunity to eligible dependents of veterans who are perma-

nently and totally disabled due to a service-related condition, or who died while on active

duty or as a result of a service-related condition. The program offers up to 45 months of

education benefits. These benefits may be used for degree and certificate programs, ap-

prenticeship, and on-the-job training. Surviving spouses may take a correspondence

course. Remedial, deficiency, and refresher courses may be approved under certain cir-

cumstances.

Aw/lg:rs