HB181 Alabama 2012 Session

Pursuant to Act 2010-725, the Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) Program was extensively amended to ensure financial stability for the program. A new separate PACT Board was created and appropriations from the Education Trust Fund were made to the program for fiscal years ending September 30, 2015, and, if necessary, extending through fiscal year ending 2027

Existing law limits the cost of tuition for certain PACT plan contracts

Also under existing law, the various boards of trustees of the public four-year institutions of higher education and the State Department of Postsecondary Education, under the governance of the State Board of Education, for the public two-year institutions of higher education in the state establish the total cost of tuition and fees for their respective institutions

This bill would repeal the limit on the cost of tuition for certain PACT plan contract participants

This bill would define the term tuition and mandatory fees for the PACT program, to be the same rate of the current semester the student is enrolled, thereby tying PACT program payments to fluctuation in tuition and fees expenses

This bill would extend tuition caps to all colleges and universities in the state

This bill would require all public institutions to limit annual increases in fees to the average percentage amount such fees were increased over the past 10 years

This bill would restore the state's commitment to pay all benefits promised to program participants. PACT investments would be limited to no more than 60 percent equity investments

Relating to the Alabama Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) Program and public two-year and four-year institutions of higher education; to restore the PACT Program and permit the program to reopen enrollment; to amend Sections 16-33C-3, 16-33C-8, and 16-33C-18, Code of Alabama 1975, to define tuition and mandatory fees; to extend tuition caps to include any college or university in the state; to require all public institutions to limit annual fee increases; to limit investments to a certain mix of equity and fixed income investments; to provide the state is committed to pay obligations; and to repeal Section 16-33C-17, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to limits on the cost of tuition for certain PACT plan contract participants.