State Senate Urges Congress to Pass Military Tuition Bill

State Senator Frank Shurden passed Senate Resolution 105 through the State Senate Wednesday urging Congress to pass H.R. 197, known as the “Military In-State Tuition Act of 2005”. The Act, authored by U.S. Rep. David Scott of Georgia, would amend title 10 of the United States Code to require every state to charge in-state tuition rates at public institutions of higher education to active-duty members of the Armed Forces and their dependents living or stationed in that state.

“Although Oklahoma is a military-friendly state, there are others that aren’t,” said Shurden, D-Henryetta. “There have been cases where members of the Oklahoma military and their families have been transferred to other states and were charged out-of-state tuition rates at that state’s colleges and universities.”

Shurden explained that a student attending college in Oklahoma while on full-time active duty in the armed forces is considered as having a temporary residence in the state. Those members, along with their spouses and dependent children, are admitted without the payment of nonresident tuition and without the twelve-month domiciliary requirement, as along as they continue to be stationed in the state in full-time military service and under military orders.

H.R. 197 was brought to Shurden’s attention by U.S. retired Army Major Jean McMillen of Shawnee who realized the tuition discrimination when his first granddaughter, the child of active U.S. Coast Guard personnel in Virginia, began college three years ago.

“When my granddaughter started attending a Virginia college, we estimated that it was going to cost my daughter and her husband around $140,000 more than other Virginia residents to send their four children to college even though they had lived in the state for three years,” said McMillen. “It was like my family was being punished for our military service. I can’t believe a state would treat their military families like this or, even worse, that the U.S. government would tolerate such treatment.”

A copy of SR 105, which passed the Senate unanimously, will be distributed to the Oklahoma Congressional Delegation.

“This bill is our way of showing our support for these fine men and women that sacrifice so much for us and to make sure that no other families are faced with the financial hardship that Major McMillen’s was,” said Shurden. “They have little choice of where they are stationed or how often they have to move. I think it’s a shame that they are punished through higher tuition rates when they give so much and are paid so little. This is yet another way we can repay them for their service and devotion to our country.”

SB 105 is a simple resolution meaning that is does not have to be approved by either the House or the Governor.