3 Campus-Based Issues for Lawmakers

In addition to budget battles over higher education, state legislators are likely to take up several other hotly debated issues that involve public colleges. Among them are the following:

In-State Tuition for Immigrants

With federal efforts to overhaul the nation’s immigration system near a standstill, states are moving more quickly to give immigrant children a break on college tuition. In 2013, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Oregon passed laws allowing some students who were brought to the United States illegally as children to pay lower in-state tuition rates. That brings to 17 the number of states with such policies, usually for those who have lived in the state for a specified amount of time and have graduated from a high school there. Only three states—California, New Mexico, and Texas—allow such students to receive state financial aid.

Guns on Campuses

Progress has been slow for gun-rights advocates, but there is likely to be another widespread effort this year to allow employees and students to keep and carry firearms on campuses. Nineteen such bills were introduced in state legislatures in 2013. Measures passed in Arkansas and Kansas allowing concealed-carry on public-college campuses, with major caveats. All public colleges in Arkansas have exercised their right to opt out of the new law, and those in Kansas have as long as four years to reverse their bans on concealed-carry.

Credentials: Online and Competency-Based

The nationwide push to create a more affordable and accessible form of college credential is pushing several states toward expanding online and competency-based education. In 2013, Missouri and Tennessee became the latest states to join with Western Governors University, as Indiana, Texas, and Washington have already done. A bill in California requiring public colleges to award credit for massive open online courses and other offerings from outside providers was shelved in August, after the three public-college systems in California moved to expand their online offerings. The University of Wisconsin system has already created a competency-based learning program in which students are able to test out of whole courses on their way to degrees.

Sources: American Association of State Colleges and Universities, National Conference of State Legislatures