Senators moved a bill that would provide free higher tuition for Guam veterans or their dependents to the voting file Tuesday after extensive debate about fairness and funding.
Bill 202-38, introduced by Sen. Vincent Borja, who is a veteran, would waive tuition – but not fees - at University of Guam and Guam Community College for qualifying veterans.
Veterans would have to exhaust their federal benefits before the local benefit kicks in.
The bill would allow up to 90 tuition-free undergraduate credit hours and up to 30 graduate credit hours for each veteran.
Veterans would be allowed to allocate those tuition-free hours to eligible dependents.
Senators said the bill was a way to thank veterans for their service, provide a path for higher education and build a more skilled and capable workforce.
The original version of the Guam Veterans Higher Education Benefits Act stated that tuition money would not come from the General Fund, but would be absorbed by UOG and GCC “as a civic and public duty.”
That language was removed from the final version of the bill, and Sen. Therese Terlaje asked if it was appropriate to vote on a bill that could have a financial impact on taxpayers without knowing what that financial impact would be or how it would be funded.
Sen. Chris Dueñas, who heads the Committee on Finance and Government Operations, said appropriations could be dealt with later.
“If this bill passes and becomes law and signed into law by the governor, and there is an immediate fiscal impact that the university believes they cannot absorb, then they'll need to write the Office of Finance and Budget and BBMR (Bureau of Budget Management and Research) a letter and indicate that they cannot absorb this and they would need an appropriation for it,” Duenas said.
Sen. Chris Barnett said the measure could lead to tuition increases for other students.
“My dear people of Guam, do you support free college for veterans, their wives and their children, if it means the price of college is going to increase for everybody else who is not in that category?”
He said the Bureau of Budget Management and Research estimated that bill could cost $1.2 million.
Barnett added that a number of current senators have announced their candidacy for governor or lieutenant governor, and voters will see “commercials that we gave the veterans free college, but what you're not going to see is what it's going to cost the people of Guam.”
