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A BILL
To ensure access to college education for all Atlasians
Be it enacted by the Congress of the Republic of Atlasia assembled
SECTION 1. TITLE
This legislation may be cited as the
College For All Act.
SECTION 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL TUITION GRANT PROGRAM
a. The federal government shall hereby authorize such sums as may be necessary to provide, in each region, for the elimination of tuition and required fees for all students currently enrolled or planning to enroll in a 2-year community college in the region in which the individual is currently a resident, as well as all working and middle-class students attending 4-year public institutions of higher education in the region in which the individual is currently a resident.
i. “Working and middle-class students” is defined as those dependent students whose parents’ adjusted gross income for the most recent taxable year is equal to or less than $125,000, as well as those independent students whose adjusted gross income is equal to or less than $125,000 for the most recent taxable year.
ii. These figures shall be adjusted annually in accordance with growth in the National Average Wage Index.
b. In pursuance of this goal, each region shall be eligible to receive a monetary grant equivalent to 67 percent of the amount required to eliminate tuition and fees, conditional upon the provision of regional funds to eliminate 33 percent of tuition and fees.
i. “The amount required to eliminate tuition and fees” shall be equivalent to the number of full-time equivalent eligible students enrolled in all community colleges and public 4-year institutions, multiplied by the amount of expenditures per full-time equivalent eligible student necessary to eliminate tuition and required fees.
ii. In addition, public institutions of higher education may not charge non-eligible in-region students or out of region students an amount exceeding the marginal cost of attendance.
SECTION 3. PROGRAM CONDITIONS
a. In order to be eligible to receive grants under this legislation, regions must ensure that public institutions of higher education maintain expenditures on education per full-time equivalent student at levels that are equal to or exceed the expenditures on education for the 2016-17 school year.
i. “Expenditures on education” shall include expenditures on instruction, operating expenditures, and both regional and institutional expenditures on need-based financial aid programs.
b. In order to be eligible to receive grants under this legislation, regions must further ensure that, within 5 years, not less than 75 percent of instruction at public institutions of higher education is provided by tenured or tenure-track faculty.
c. Excess funding under this legislation may be used on any programs that improve instructional quality and academic outcomes, including additional need-based student financial aid, additional course offering, increased hiring of full-time and tenure-track faculty, and academic support services. No funding under this legislation may be used for capital outlays, administrative salaries, or expenditures on athletics.
d. Adoption of regional policies designed to deliberately reduce enrollment in public institutions of higher education shall result in the forfeiture of all grants under this legislation.
