This bill amends RCW 28B.15.621 (and 2024 c 146 s 12) to change which tuition and fee waivers governing boards at state universities, regional universities, The Evergreen State College, and community and technical colleges may or must provide for veterans, National Guard members, and certain family members. It allows governing boards to waive all or part of tuition and fees for an eligible veteran or National Guard member, subject to RCW 28B.15.910, and permits boards to waive tuition and fees for a Washington domiciliary veteran who did not serve on foreign soil or in international waters but who is not otherwise an “eligible veteran” — with those permissive waivers receiving no state general fund support. The bill requires governing boards to waive all tuition and fees, subject to conditions and RCW 28B.15.910, for (a) a child and the spouse/domestic partner or surviving spouse/domestic partner of an eligible veteran or National Guard member who became totally disabled due to active federal service or was determined by the federal government to be a prisoner of war or missing in action, and (b) a child and the surviving spouse or surviving domestic partner of an eligible veteran or National Guard member who died as a result of active federal service. The amendment adds substantive conditions and limits: residency and age requirements (child eligibility age 17 through 26), time windows to use benefits (including an eight-year window for some children and a ten-year window for surviving spouses/domestic partners measured from specified federal or event dates, with ineligibility on remarriage or subsequent domestic partnership), satisfactory academic progress, an encouragement (not requirement) that boards waive for graduate students, a 250-quarter-credit limit (or semester equivalent), and a textbook/course materials stipend of $500 per academic year divided among terms and prorated for part-time students, subject to appropriations. It also specifies that fees, as used for required waivers, includes all assessments necessary for full participation in coursework and related activities, and that the required waivers do not affect permissive waivers under the bill. Private vocational and private higher education institutions are encouraged, but not required, to provide comparable waivers. The bill defines key terms used in the section: “child” (biological, adopted, or stepchild); “eligible veteran or national guard member” (a Washington domiciliary who served in active federal service under Title 10 or Title 32 in a war or conflict on foreign soil or in international waters or in support of those serving there, with a qualifying discharge as defined in RCW 73.04.005); “totally disabled” (100% disability as determined by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs); and “Washington domiciliary” (a person whose true, fixed, and permanent home is Washington, with public institutions to rely on standards in RCW 28B.15.013 where possible). Governing boards must report specified waiver implementation data to the legislature’s higher education committees by November 15, 2010, and every two years thereafter. The extracted text references other statutes (RCW 28B.15.910, RCW 73.04.005, RCW 28B.15.013) for limitations, qualifying discharge definitions, and domiciliary standards; those provisions are not included here. The reporting date cited (November 15, 2010) is in the past and the excerpt does not explain how that date applies going forward.

If enacted, public four-year and community and technical colleges will be required to cover tuition and fees for children and for spouses or domestic partners (including surviving partners) of veterans or national guard members who are 100% disabled from service, were declared POW/MIA, or died because of active federal service, subject to limits like residency, a 250-quarter-credit lifetime cap, age and time windows for use, and a $500 per-year textbook stipend that depends on future appropriations. Colleges may also choose to waive tuition and fees for other veterans or state domiciliary veterans who did not serve overseas, but those permissive waivers get no state general fund support and therefore the institution would absorb the cost if it offers them. The immediate effects will fall on governing boards and campus budgets: institutions must verify eligibility, track credit and time limits, and absorb lost tuition revenue or seek local funding for permissive waivers and the stipend if the legislature does not appropriate funds. The law also adds a recurring reporting task to the higher education committees; however, key details about funding limits and residency, and how other referenced statutes constrain implementation, are not included here, so the net fiscal impact and exact administrative procedures remain unclear.