Date: 04/24/2013

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB13-1320

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
Refer House Bill 13-1320 to the Committee on ApproPASS



12:27 PM -- House Bill 13-1320

Representative Waller and Representative Hullinghorst, co-prime sponsors, presented House Bill 13-1320 concerning financial support for meritorious Colorado students at state-supported institutions of higher education. Under current law, 55 percent of incoming freshmen enrolling at state institutions of higher education, and not less than two-thirds of total student enrollment, must be resident students. Beginning with the 2013 academic year, the bill allows a qualifying institution of higher education to count students identified as a "Colorado Scholar" as two resident students for purposes of calculating the required percentages and ratios of resident to nonresident students. An institution is qualified if it creates a Colorado scholar program to award institutional financial aid or scholarships to resident undergraduates based on competitive, merit-based criteria. The bill also requires that the University of Colorado system and Colorado State University ensure that the percentage of students admitted based on criteria other than statewide admissions criteria does not fall below the average of the percentage of these students admitted for the three preceding years. These institutions meet this requirement if the percentage of resident students admitted using an alternative criteria, plus the percentage of resident students enrolling as Colorado scholars, is greater than the percentage of non-resident students admitted based on the alternative criteria.

Representative Waller stated that the bill allows Colorado's best and brightest students to stay in the state and attend one of Colorado's institutions of higher education. He stated that budget cuts have left the Colorado scholar program unfunded and that the bill creates an opportunity to put more funding back into the program and to provide more scholarships to students. Representative Hullinghorst stated that Colorado needs a strong scholarship program. She stated that the University of Colorado's ability to keep top-performing high school students in the state has dropped dramatically.

The following persons testified:

12:34 PM -- Kevin MacLennan, representing the University of Colorado, testified in support of the bill. He provided a handout to the committee members (Attachment J). Mr. MacLennan discussed the increased competition for Colorado's students, and stated that scholarships are very important to recruiting and enrolling the best students. He said that merit scholarships help keep Colorado's best and brightest students in the state and entering the Colorado workforce.

13HseEd0424AttachJ.pdf13HseEd0424AttachJ.pdf

12:39 PM -- Jeremy Hueth, representing the University of Colorado, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Hueth thanked the bill sponsors for their work. He stated that the bill allows more discretion on the part of institutions in regards to recruiting and enrolling non-resident students. He said that funds from non-resident student tuition will fund the merit scholarship program.

Mr. MacLennan and Mr. Hueth responded to questions from the committee.

Representative Hullinghorst requested that the bill be routed to the House Committee on Appropriations.
BILL:HB13-1320
TIME: 12:49:58 PM
MOVED:Court
MOTION:Refer House Bill 13-1320 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 12-0, with one member excused.
SECONDED:Priola
VOTE
Buckner
Yes
Court
Yes
Everett
Excused
Fields
Yes
Holbert
Yes
Landgraf
Yes
Murray
Yes
Pettersen
Yes
Priola
Yes
Wilson
Yes
Young
Yes
Peniston
Yes
Hamner
Yes
Final YES: 12 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


12:52 PM

The committee adjourned.