[Imc-newsroom] Fw: Outstanding idea and approach - In State Tuition

[ColonelDan]

Army advocates in-state tuition for military families 



by Joe Burlas 

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 4, 2003) -- The Georgia Board of Regents listened when the Army started informally asking all states in February to consider favorable in-state college tuition policies for soldiers and their family members. 

Georgia changed its in-state tuition rules in late May to mirror the Army's desire for soldiers and their family members to have in-state tuition eligibility both in their state of legal residence and the state where the soldier is assigned, and continuity of that eligibility once established. 

In addition to Georgia, there are currently 15 other states the Army considers to be soldier-friendly in meeting its in-state tuition desire, said Mike Tevnan, an education specialist at the Total Army Personnel Command. Those states include Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and Utah. 

Tevnan related the contents of an e-mail he got in the past year from a master sergeant with a legal residence of Florida, who was stationed in Texas when his child started college with in-state tuition rates there and then was assigned to a post in Georgia. The daughter lost in-state eligibility when her father moved. When investigating her moving to a Georgia college, the sergeant learned that his daughter would not be able to transfer all the college course credits she earned in Texas. 

Texas has since moved to conform its in-state eligibility rules as its legislative body has just incorporated soldier-friendly changes into a formal bill. That bill now awaits Gov. Rick Perry's signature before becoming law. 

Last November's Army Family Action Plan identified the financial hardship placed upon military families due to varying in-state college tuition rules as those families are required to move from state to state due to military reassignment as its number one issue. The delta, or difference, between average annual in-state and out-of-state tuition costs ranges from $3,000 to more than $17,000, according to Tevnan's research. 

For example, the difference between average in-state and out-of-state tuition in North Carolina is $17,921. 

That delta can often make the difference between a soldier being able to afford sending a family member to college or not, said Patty Shinseki, wife of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki and host of the annual Army Family Action Plan meeting for the past four years. Soldiers and their families shouldn't be penalized by virtue of the many moves their service to the nation often requires, she said. 

Army officials are prohibited by law from lobbying -- in other words, leaders cannot call up lawmakers or their staffs and tell them what the Army wants whenever they feel like it. Army officials can, however, respond to queries from those lawmakers and staffs about what the Army is interested in and talk about the issue through established normal lines of communication between lawmakers and the Army. It can also use its civilian aides to the secretary of the Army to let legislators know military favorable in-state tuition rules are important to the Army. 

The tuition issue was a prominent part of a presentation by Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) Reginald Brown at the CASA conference in February. Tevnan credited the Georgia and Texas CASAs for immediately getting the issue in front of their state legislative bodies. That action was particularly timely in Texas where the legislative body only meets formally once every two years. 

Col. Gina Farissee, the Army adjutant general, gave in-depth information packets about how each state handles its in-state tuition rules for the military and family members and what the Army would like to see to the CASAs. She is forwarding similar packets to each state adjutant general and the commanders of every Army installation in the United States so they will be prepared to discuss the issue with lawmakers and their staffs if the proper opportunity presents itself. 

The Department of Defense liked the Army's in-state tuition initiative so much that John Molino, deputy under secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy, directed other services in January to designate a senior ranking official to work closely with the Army in getting the word out to state education regulatory bodies as it benefits all service members. 

While most states meet at least two of the Army's criteria, Tevnan said, seven have policies that are considered unfavorable to the military or no policy at all. Those states are Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, South Dakota, Vermont and Virginia. 

Information about how each state rates with what the Army desires for in-state tuition eligibility for soldiers and family members can be found on the Army Education Homepage, www.armyeducation.army.mil, under the civilian links of its links page.

  









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