[Oasfaa] State legislative update - Oklahoma's Promise

[Fair, Bryce]

We have two bills related to Oklahoma's Promise that are being acted upon in these final days of the legislative session.  Following is an update on their content and status.

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SB 1038 - (text - http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/2007-08bills/SB/SB1038_CCS2.RTF )  This is a very important bill that has several provisions that were previously in other bills.  It also has some amendatory language related to the Oklahoma Tuition Equalization Grant (OTEG; which is for students attending Oklahoma private colleges).  The bill includes the following provisions:

*	Creates a Task Force on Oklahoma's Promise-OHLAP to evaluate concerns and questions about the program's income eligibility requirements, such as:
-adjusting for family size
-adjusting for number of children in college at the same time
-adjusting for inflation
-possibly providing a "phased-out" benefit for families with incomes slightly over the limits
-addressing families whose income drops dramatically after the student's 10th-grade year
-addressing the "all or nothing" aspect of the new second income limit (As the law currently reads, the second income check would be conducted only as the student enters college.  A student whose family income may be over the limit their freshmen year in college can never regain eligibility, even if their income later drops dramatically due to death or disability of a parent.  Conversely, a student whose income is under the limit the freshmen year remains eligible for five years in college, even if the family income rises dramatically.)
-The Task Force will also examine the scholarship retention requirements for students in college and produce recommendations for consideration by the Legislature in the 2009 session.

*	Delays for one year the implementation of the new second income limit that was passed in the 2007 legislative session.  With the change, the second income limit would become effective for 2010 high school graduates rather than 2009 graduates.  The rationale includes the following reasons:
-This second income check was not part of the "agreement" signed by the 9,000 Oklahoma's Promise students (and their parents) in the 2009 high school graduating class when they enrolled in the program in the 8th, 9th, or 10th grade.  (We still have the same concern for some of the 2010 and 2011 grads.)
-The one-year delay also allows the Task Force time to carefully review this provision for future participants in the program.

*	Modifies the college sophomore GPA requirement to a cumulative calculation and delays the implementation of the college GPA requirements for one year until 2010-11 to allow the Task Force to review the issue.  However, it leaves the current language for the 2.5 GPA calculated only on courses taken as a junior or above.  There was discussion of making the 2.5 GPA for juniors and above a cumulative GPA, but we recommended against this.  Our rationale is that a college student with a cumulative 2.0 GPA at the end of their sophomore year would be required to make a 3.5 GPA for their 30 hours of courses as a junior to achieve an overall cumulative GPA of 2.5 by the end of their junior year.  We believe this would be too restrictive.  We anticipate the Task Force will review this issue closely.

*	For Oklahoma's Promise students serving in the military, the bill provides an exception to the requirement that students start college within three years of graduating from high school.

*	Oklahoma Tuition Equalization Grant (OTEG; These provisions were not requested by the State Regents.)  The first change expands the criteria for eligible participating institutions to include institutions accredited by entities recognized by US Dept. of Education (currently, participation is limited only to institutions accredited by the North Central Association on Colleges and Schools).  A second change will allow more adult (non-traditional) students to be eligible to participate in the program.

Status:  SB 1038 passed the Senate floor yesterday (Wednesday) by a 46-0 vote and is expected to be considered on the House floor today or tomorrow.

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HB 2446 (text - http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/2007-08bills/HB/HB2446_CCS.RTF) would allow adopted children to participate in Oklahoma's Promise under special income criteria.  For adopted students, there would be no income requirement at the time the student initially applies for the program in the 8th, 9th, or 10th grade.  However, the adopted students would be subject to the second income check that is currently in the law for future recipients.  The second income limits for adopted children would be higher than the $100,000 currently in statute for all participants-- $150,000 if the student was adopted between birth and 12 years of age, and $200,000 if the student was adopted between the ages of 13 and 17.

Status:  HB 2446 passed the House 93-5 yesterday and passed the Senate this morning 45-1.  The bill will now go to the Governor for his consideration.

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Let me know if you have questions.
Bryce Fair



Bryce Fair 
Assoc. Vice Chancellor for Scholarships & Grants 
Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education 
Phone:  (405) 225-9162 
Fax:  (405) 225-9230 
E-mail:  bfair at osrhe.edu 

Mailing Address: 
P.O. Box 108850 
Oklahoma City, OK  73101-8850 

Street Address: 
655 Research Parkway, Suite 200 
Oklahoma City, OK  73104