SB 744

This bill makes changes to the tuition grant program administered by the

Department of Military Affairs relating to eligibility and timing of higher education

grants paid to national guard members and to administration of the program.

Under current law, DMA awards tuition grants to national guard members to

reimburse them for higher education tuition costs if certain eligibility criteria are

satisfied. The amount of the tuition grant payment is equal to 100 percent of the

actual tuition charged by the guard member's school or 100 percent of the maximum

resident undergraduate tuition charged by the University of Wisconsin-Madison for

a comparable number of credits, whichever amount is less. Among the eligibility

criteria, a national guard member may not receive a tuition reimbursement grant if,

at the time of completion of the semester to be reimbursed, the guard member fails

to achieve a minimum grade point average of 2.0, fails to be an actively drilling guard

member, or fails to be a guard member in good standing. DMA must require a

national guard member to repay the amount of a tuition grant if the national guard

member is separated from the national guard for misconduct, including being absent

without leave for more than nine unit training assemblies. If an eligible student's

school has certified to DMA that the student has achieved at least a 2.0 GPA for the

semester for which reimbursement is sought, DMA must pay the tuition grant

amount to the student within 30 days after receiving this certification.

The bill allows an enrolled student who is an eligible national guard member

to apply for a tuition grant prior to completion of the semester. The national guard

member is not eligible for payment of the tuition grant if, at the time of application

for the grant, the guard member is not achieving satisfactory academic progress in

his or her school, is not an actively drilling guard member, or is not a guard member

in good standing. If an eligible guard member's school has certified to DMA that he

or she is achieving satisfactory academic progress, DMA must pay the tuition grant

amount to the student's school on the student's behalf, rather than directly to the

student, within 30 days after receiving this certification. The bill also requires DMA

to require a national guard member to repay a tuition grant if, at the end of the term

for which the tuition grant is paid, the national guard member has failed to achieve

satisfactory academic progress, failed to be an actively drilling guard member, or

failed to be a guard member in good standing. A school must notify DMA if the

national guard member who received the tuition grant failed to achieve satisfactory

academic progress at the end of the term. If a national guard member is required to

repay a tuition grant for any reason, DMA may require the guard member's school

to recover from the guard member the amount of the tuition grant and remit it to

DMA.

The bill also requires DMA to consult and coordinate with higher education

institutions in establishing a process for distributing tuition grants that maximizes

administrative efficiency for these schools in applying tuition grants to student