AB 515

This bill modifies the residency requirement for the tuition and fee remission

program for certain veterans and their spouses and children enrolled in University

of Wisconsin System institutions and technical colleges. The bill makes a similar

change with respect to grant eligibility for certain veterans and their spouses and

children enrolled in private nonprofit colleges. The bill also modifies the UW System

nonresident tuition exemption for certain veterans.

Under current law, if certain criteria are met, veterans and their spouses and

17- to 25-year-old children are eligible for full remission of tuition and fees at UW

System schools and technical colleges for up to eight semesters or 128 credits,

whichever is longer. Under the veterans fee remission program, the veteran must

be a resident of this state when he or she entered military service or be a resident of

this state for at least five consecutive years immediately before the veteran registers

at a UW System school or technical college. Under the fee remission program for the

spouse or child of a veteran who suffered service-connected death or disability, the

veteran must have been a resident of this state when he or she entered military

service or one of the following must apply: 1) if the veteran, while a resident of this

state, died on active duty, died as the result of a service-connected disability, or died

in the line of duty while on active or inactive duty for training purposes, the veteran

must have resided in this state for at least five consecutive years while an adult, or

2) if the veteran received at least a 30 percent service-connected disability rating,

the veteran must have resided in this state for at least five consecutive years

immediately before the veteran's spouse or child registers at a UW System school or

technical college. In addition, if a veteran was not a resident of this state when he

or she entered military service, the veteran's spouse or child is eligible for tuition and

fee remission only if the spouse or child has resided in this state for at least five

consecutive years immediately before the spouse's or child's enrollment in a UW

System school or technical college.

This bill lowers from five years to three years the durational residency

requirement for veterans and their spouses and children under the tuition and fee

remission program under circumstances in which the veteran was not a resident of

this state when he or she entered military service.

Under current law, the Higher Educational Aids Board administers a grant

program under which HEAB makes grants to private nonprofit colleges to offset

tuition charged to enrolled veterans and their spouses and children who, if they had

been enrolled in a UW System institution or technical college, would qualify for

tuition remission as described above.

This bill also lowers from five years to three years the durational residency

requirement for veterans and their spouses and children for purposes of this HEAB

grant program.

Under current law, a person generally must be a Wisconsin resident for at least