November 20-21, 2003

 

ITEM 121-101-R1103

 

SUBJECT:  FINANCIAL AFFAIRS                                               

Policy 940.13 - Fee Waivers

Effective July 1, 2003; Issued May 2, 2003

. . .

4.         Waivers.   Campuses of the Montana University System may grant the following waivers subject to specified conditions. . .  

 

i.          Custodial Student Fee Waiver.  Registration and incidental fees shall be waived, with the approval of the Commissioner of Higher Education, for residents of the Mountain View School at Helena, the Pine Hills School at Miles City or other similar facilities.  The same benefit shall be granted to students from similar private, non-sectarian charitable institutions located in Montana. 

Such persons shall have completed high school and shall be recommended by the Department of Institutions or the administration of the private institutions, as appropriate, and the Department must provide the recipient $800 per year for educational expenses as authorized by 52-5-112 MCA. . .

  

m.        Foreign Refugee Fee Waiver.  Effective November 9, 1990, registration, incidental, and out-of-state fees shall be waived for students registered with the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees for attendance at any of the units of the Montana University System, provided the student has firm assurance that the remaining costs of his or her education will be provided from some source outside the University System.  Each campus shall notify the Commissioner of Higher Education of its intent to grant such a waiver and the Commissioner shall approve such waivers for up to six incoming students each year, systemwide, and each recipient shall be eligible for such waiver for up to four years of study.  Such waivers shall be included within the limits established in sections 4(a), 4(b) and 4(c) of this policy.  The authority of the Commissioner of Higher Education to approve these waivers expires at the end of the academic year 2000-2001, but any prior recipients shall continue to be eligible for the waiver for the full four years noted above. 

 

EXPLANATION OF ITEM:� State statute (52-5-112 MCA) authorizes the Department of Corrections to designate up to eight youths a year from the state youth correctional facility to receive up to $800/year in educational expenses.� The same statute also says that the Regents �may� waive tuition and fees for these students.� We have interpreted this to mean that a youth is only eligible for a fee waiver if the Department of Corrections contributes its statutory share to the youth�s educational expenses, although the actual wording of the Regents policy has not explicitly limited the waivers to individuals also receiving aid from the Corrections Department.� The Department has recently requested fee waivers for individuals to whom the Department is giving nothing for educational expenses.� This amendment makes clear that such persons are not entitled to a university funded fee waiver.� The amendment also deletes a reference to the Mountain View School, which no longer exists.� It also removes residents of private non-sectarian youth correctional institutions from eligibility for this fee waiver.� We have received no requests from such institutions within recent memory.

 

Finally, the amendment removes from policy a fee waiver for foreign refugees that had by its own terms been �sunsetted� over two years ago.