§ 74-32,161 — Definitions; enrollment; eligibility; foster children; reimbursement to Kansas education institution; report to legislative committees; tuition waiver gifts, grants and reimbursements fund; expenditures; rules and regulations

(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Kansas educational institution" means a postsecondary educational institution as defined by K.S.A. 74-3201b, and amendments thereto.
(2) "State board" means the state board of regents.
(b) Subject to appropriations therefor and except as otherwise provided by this section, every Kansas educational institution shall provide for enrollment without charge of tuition, undergraduate fees, including registration, matriculation and laboratory fees for any eligible applicant. No Kansas educational institution shall be required by this section to provide for the enrollment of more than five new applicants in any academic year. An applicant who was in the custody of the Kansas department for children and families on the date such applicant reached 18 years of age, who has graduated from a high school or fulfilled the requirements for a general educational development (GED) certificate while in foster care, was released from the custody of the Kansas department for children and families prior to age 18 after having graduated from a high school or fulfilled the requirements for a general educational development (GED) certificate while in foster care placement and in the custody of the Kansas department for children and families, or an applicant who was adopted from a foster care placement on or after such applicant's 16 th birthday, and who is accepted to a Kansas educational institution within two years following the date such applicant graduated from a high school or fulfilled the requirements for a general educational development (GED) certificate shall be eligible for enrollment at a Kansas educational institution without charge of tuition or such fees through the semester the eligible applicant reaches 21 years of age not to exceed eight semesters of undergraduate instruction, or the equivalent thereof, at all such institutions.
(c) Subject to appropriations therefor, any Kansas educational institution which at the time of enrollment did not charge tuition or fees as prescribed by subsection (b), and amendments thereto, of the eligible applicant may file a claim with the state board for reimbursement of the amount of such tuition and fees. The state board shall be responsible for payment of reimbursements to Kansas educational institutions upon certification by each such institution of the amount of reimbursement to which the educational institution is entitled. Such payments to Kansas educational institutions shall be made upon vouchers approved by the state board and upon warrants of the director of accounts and reports. Payments may be made by issuance of a single warrant to each Kansas educational institution at which one or more eligible applicants are enrolled for the total amount of tuition and fees not charged eligible applicants for enrollment at that institution. The director of accounts and reports shall cause such warrant to be delivered to the Kansas educational institution at which such eligible applicant or applicants are enrolled. If an eligible applicant discontinues attendance before the end of any semester, after the Kansas educational institution has received payment under this subsection, the institution shall pay to the state the entire amount which such eligible applicant would otherwise qualify to have refunded, not to exceed the amount of the payment made by the state on behalf of such applicant for the semester. All amounts paid to the state by Kansas educational institutions under this subsection shall be deposited in the state treasury and credited to the tuition waiver gifts, grants and reimbursements fund unless such amount was from federal funds transferred under the authority of subsection (g) which funds shall be returned to the director of accounts and reports for reposit to the originating federal funding source.
(d) The chief executive officer of the state board shall submit a report to the house and senate committees on education during the 2005 and 2007 regular session of the legislature on the results, outcomes and effectiveness of the tuition waiver program authorized by this section.
(e) The state board is authorized to receive any grants, gifts, contributions or bequests made for the purpose of supporting the tuition waiver program authorized by this section and to expend the same.
(f) There is hereby established in the state treasury the tuition waiver gifts, grants and reimbursements fund. Expenditures from the fund may be made for the purpose of payment of claims of Kansas educational institutions pursuant to this section and for such purposes as may be specified with regard to any grant, gift, contribution or bequest. All such expenditures shall be authorized by the chief executive officer of the state board, or such officer's designee and made upon warrants of the director of accounts and reports issued pursuant to vouchers approved by the chief executive officer of the state board, or such officer's designee.
(g) During each year, the chief executive officer of the state board shall make one or more certifications of the amount or amounts required to pay claims received from Kansas educational institutions for tuition and fees under this section to the director of accounts and reports and the secretary for children and families. Each certification made by the chief executive officer shall include a provision stating that 20% of the total amount or amounts required to pay claims received from Kansas educational institutions for tuition and fees under this section are either cash, in-kind contributions, state general funds or other nonfederal sources not used to match other funds, and that the remaining 80% shall be paid from the federal award from the foster care assistance federal fund. Upon receipt of each such certification, the director of accounts shall transfer the amount certified from moneys received under the federal Chafee foster care independence grant and credited to the foster care assistance federal fund of the Kansas department for children and families to the tuition waiver gifts, grants and reimbursements fund of the state board. Annual expenditures for the tuition waiver program made by the Kansas department for children and families shall not exceed a maximum of more than 30% of the amount of the federal award in effect on July 1 of each state fiscal year.
(h) On or before the 10 th of each month, the director of accounts and reports shall transfer from the state general fund to the tuition waiver gifts and grants fund interest earnings based on:
(1) The average daily balance of moneys in the tuition waiver gifts and grants fund for the preceding month; and
(2) the net earnings rate for the pooled money investment portfolio for the preceding month.
(i) Applicants eligible for the benefits under this section shall be exempt from the provisions of K.S.A. 76-717, and amendments thereto.
(j) The state board shall adopt rules and regulations requiring eligible applicants to be enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student in good academic standing and to maintain part-time employment to remain eligible and other rules and regulations, as appropriate, for administration of the applicable provisions of this section. When there is a candidate that appears to meet the eligibility guidelines for federal Chafee funding administered by the Kansas department for children and families, the state board shall notify the Kansas department for children and families. The Kansas department for children and families shall notify the state board of approval of the candidate's eligibility.
(k) The provisions of this section shall expire on June 30, 2006, except that any eligible applicant who received a tuition waiver before June 30, 2006, and is deemed by the state board to be eligible pursuant to this section shall be allowed to remain eligible until such applicant completes such applicant's course of study or becomes ineligible pursuant to the provisions of this section.

Legislative History

L. 2002, ch. 127, § 12; Revived and amended, L. 2004, ch. 185, § 25; L. 2014, ch. 115, § 300; July 1.