Bill Text: NJ S577 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Allows military member to qualify for resident tuition rate at county college.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee [S577 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S577-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator JON M. BRAMNICK
District 21 (Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator Diegnan
SYNOPSIS
Allows military member to qualify for resident tuition rate at county college.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning county college tuition rates and supplementing chapter 64A of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. United States military personnel and their dependents who are living in New Jersey and are attending a county college established by the county in which they reside or are stationed shall be regarded as residents of the county for the purpose of determining tuition.
2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall first apply to the academic year beginning after the effective date of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that a member of the United States military or his dependent who lives in New Jersey and is attending a county college established by the county in which the member resides or is stationed must be charged the county resident tuition rate. Currently, many military members and their dependents maintain out-of-county or out-of-State addresses. As a result, these military members and their dependents do not qualify for the resident tuition rate at their local county college. In most county colleges in the State, the county resident tuition rate is significantly lower than the nonresident tuition rate.
Current law at N.J.S.A.18A:62-4.1 provides that those members of the military who are enrolled in public institutions of higher education are considered State residents for the purposes of qualifying for in-State tuition. This benefit is also extended to the dependents of military members. This bill will ensure that military personnel and their dependents receive a similar in-county tuition benefit.
