COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 429
(By Senators Lucht, Holliday, Dalton,
Grubb and Walker)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
Reported March 23, 1993.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article ten, chapter
eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to enrollment,
tuition and fees; requiring governing boards of higher
education to fix tuition and other fees; disposition of
fees; maximum fees; filing the schedule of fees; student
union building fees; requiring the governing boards to allow
payment of fees in three or more installments and to accept
payment by credit card or other payment methods; providing
for interest and fees for installment payments, credit card
services and other payment methods; allowing the governing
boards to permit certain students adversely, financially
affected by a legal work stoppage additional time to pay
fees; and refund of fees.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article ten, chapter eighteen-b of thecode of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. FEES AND OTHER MONEY COLLECTED AT STATE INSTITUTIONS
OF HIGHER EDUCATION.
§18B-10-1. Enrollment, tuition and other fees at educational
institutions; refund of fees.
(a) Each governing board shall fix tuition and other fees
for each school term for the different classes or categories of
students enrolling at each state institution of higher education
under its jurisdiction and may include among the fees any one or
more of the following: (1) Health service fees; (2) infirmary
fees; (3) student activities, recreational, athletic and
extracurricular fees, which may be used to finance a student's
attorney to perform legal services for students in civil matters
at the institutions:
Provided, That the legal services shall be
limited to only those types of cases, programs or services
approved by the administrative head of the institution where the
legal services are to be performed; and (4) graduate center fees
and/or branch college fees, if the establishment and operations
of graduate centers or branch colleges are otherwise authorized
by law. All fees collected at any graduate center or at any
branch college shall be paid into special funds and shall be used
solely for the maintenance and operation of the graduate center
or branch college at which they were collected:
Provided,
however, That the maximum fees to be collected under this section
for resident students shall not exceed five hundred dollars per
semester, and for nonresident students, one thousand dollars per
semester. The schedule of all fees, and any changes in theschedule, shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting of the
appropriate governing board, and the board shall file with the
legislative auditor a certified copy of the schedule and changes.
(b) In addition to the fees mentioned in subsection (a) of
this section, each governing board may impose and collect a
student union building fee. All building fees collected at an
institution shall be paid into a special student union building
fund for the institution, which is hereby created in the state
treasury and shall be used only for the construction, operation
and maintenance of a student union building or a combination
student union and dining hall building or for the payment of the
principal of and interest on any bond issued to finance part or
all of the construction of a student union building or a
combination student union and dining hall building or the
renovation of an existing structure for use as a student union
building or a combination student union and dining hall building,
all as more fully provided in section ten of this article. Any
moneys in the funds not immediately needed for such purposes may
be invested in any bonds or other securities as are now or
hereafter authorized as proper investments for state funds.
(c) All fees are due and payable by the student upon
enrollment and registration for classes except as provided for in
this subsection.
(1) The governing boards shall permit fee payments to be
made in three or more installments over the course of the
academic term. The payments shall include interest at a rate set
by the governing board:
Provided, That all fees must be paid
prior to the awarding of course credit at the end of the academicterm.
(2) The governing boards shall also authorize the acceptance
of credit cards or other payment methods which may be generally
available to students for the payment of fees:
Provided, That
the governing boards may charge the students for the reasonable
and customary charges incurred in accepting credit cards and
other methods of payment.
(3) If a governing board determines that any student was
adversely, financially affected by a legal work stoppage that
commenced on or after the first day of January, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-three, it may allow the student an additional six
months to pay the fees for any academic term:
Provided, That the
governing board shall determine if a student was adversely,
financially affected on a case by case basis.
(d) Refund, as an erroneous payment, may be made of any fees
upon the voluntary or involuntary withdrawal from classes of any
student until eight weeks of the school semester or term have
expired, but no refund may be made thereafter.