Outside Section 73



Previous Outside Section Next Outside Section

 

Tuition Retention

SECTION 73.   There shall be a task force to identify the steps necessary to implement tuition retention for state universities and community colleges for the start of fiscal year 2020, including any necessary statutory changes. The task force shall be chaired by the commissioner of higher education, or his designee, and include the following members, or their designees: the secretary of education; the secretary of administration and finance; the chair of the board of higher education; 2 community college presidents; 2 state university presidents; the senate president; the speaker of the house of representatives; and the executive director of the Massachusetts state college building authority. Not later than October 15, 2018, the task force shall report to the secretary of administration and finance and the house and senate committees on ways and means on the following matters: (a) the costs and benefits associated with implementing tuition retention in a manner that transparently and succinctly presents total student charges and does so in a consistent manner across the public higher education system; (b) the implications of authorizing state universities and community colleges to set their own student charges, within parameters established under multi-year strategic plans approved by the board of higher education and the secretary of education; (c) the manner in which campuses and the board of higher education currently define "state supported" versus "non state-supported" for the purposes of establishing remittance amounts, allocating collective bargaining costs, determining state and campus fringe costs and determining the applicability of tuition waivers within and across the public higher education system, and recommendations for establishing a consistent set of standards by which campuses and the board of higher education will define "state supported" versus "non state-supported" for said purposes; (d) potential methodologies for establishing a revenue neutral implementation plan, including the mitigation of revenue variability due to future fluctuations in enrollments; (e) calculations and recommendations relative to the value of all tuition waivers existing on July 1, 2018 and authorized under section 19 of chapter 15A of the General Laws, any other general or special law or otherwise collectively bargained, along with recommendations for procedures and approval mechanisms to recognize the value of such tuition waivers as tuition credits; (f) recommendations for specific budgetary and financial information that would appropriately be included in institutional annual reports in order to increase transparency and inform and support the development of both annual institutional budgets and the 5-year strategic plans envisioned in subsection (b) above; (g) the possibility of alternative implementation timelines, including phasing in tuition retention or implementing it on separate timelines for the state university and community college segments; and (h) any commonwealth financial obligations, such as collective bargaining and fringe costs, that may be affected by the implementation of tuition retention.
 
 

Summary:
This section convenes a task force on the implementation of tuition retention for state universities and community colleges, including a review of how student charges are set, and the possible expansion of the special mission campus model for all campuses to submit multi-year plans outlining a schedule of tuition/fee increases to be approved by the Board of Higher Education and Secretary of Education. The task force report would inform budget-neutral tuition retention changes that would take effect in fiscal year 2020.



top of page link top of page