Military veterans new to California would be allowed to pay in-state tuition in the state’s colleges and universities under competing bills now making their way through the legislature.
One bill would waive the in-state tuition eligibility rule that requires veterans to be stationed in California at least one year before being honorably discharged. Assembly member Sharon Quirk-Silva is one of the bill’s co-authors. She says it would save some vets from crushing debt.
“For many of them, they’ve had savings that they were planning on moving forward with some type of homeownership and now are finding that they need to use those funds for their first year of college,” says Quirk-Silva.
That measure is now in a Senate committee.
The other bill would leave the current eligibility rule in place, but give discharged service members up to two years to claim their year of in-state tuition. That bill passed an Assembly committee Tuesday.
The University of California estimates the bills could cost $1.5 million in fees this year and would want to be reimbursed for that cost.