05/05/2025 08:00 AM House EDUCATION

                HB 176-UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FEES                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
8:16:59 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR STORY  announced that the  next order of  business would                                                               
be HOUSE  BILL NO. 176,  "An Act relating  to notice of  new fees                                                               
and  fee increases  from the  University of  Alaska; relating  to                                                               
billing statements  from the University of  Alaska; and providing                                                               
for an effective date."                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
8:18:07 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  ASHLEY  CARRICK,  Alaska  State  Legislature,  as                                                               
prime sponsor,  presented HB 176  to the committee.  She reminded                                                               
the  committee  that  the  proposed  legislation  was  previously                                                               
brought up  by the Alaska State  Senate in the 33rd  Alaska State                                                               
Legislature.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
8:19:48 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAD HUTCHINSON, Director, State  Relations, University of Alaska                                                               
System,  gave  invited  testimony  on HB  176.  He  directed  his                                                               
comments to other testifiers.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
8:21:26 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
JULIE   QUEEN,   Vice    Chancellor,   Administrative   Services,                                                               
University  of Alaska  Fairbanks,  gave invited  testimony on  HB
.  She said that  all three universities within the University                                                               
of Alaska (UA)  system have consolidated fees  and explained that                                                               
each university  has the  discretion to  assess fees  specific to                                                               
the services they offer.  She  said that the University of Alaska                                                               
Southeast (UAS) was the first school  in the UA system to offer a                                                               
consolidated fee based  off of requests from  students to improve                                                               
the  student  bill  that  was  described  previously  as  "overly                                                               
complicated".   She detailed the  University of  Alaska Fairbanks                                                               
(UAF) tuition  and fees  committee, which asked  for a  review of                                                               
the consolidated fee  in the name of transparency  in its billing                                                               
process.  She  said that it is the goal  of the UA administrative                                                               
services to  be transparent  to students  and explained  that the                                                               
current  language  of  HB  176 was  problematic  because  it  was                                                               
seeking to solve a problem that did not really exist.                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
8:25:23 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  HIMSCHOOT shared  her understanding  that HB  176 would                                                               
create  difficulty  for  the University  of  Alaska  (UA)  system                                                               
websites in  that each  campus would have  to create  a different                                                               
breakdown of its fees.                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
VICE  CHANCELLOR   QUEEN  confirmed  that   Co-Chair  Himschoot's                                                               
understanding was correct.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
8:27:16 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE asked if the  UA system could implement a                                                               
more simple method for a student to interact with their fees.                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
VICE  CHANCELLOR QUEEN  shared a  series of  methods that  the UA                                                               
administrative  services could  offer an  itemized list  of fees,                                                               
such as a QR code.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
8:29:10 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  EISCHEID asked  Vice Chancellor  Queen for  "more                                                               
context" about the UA system website software.                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
VICE CHANCELLOR  QUEEN explained that  the UA system  website has                                                               
been updated in the recent  years and said that UA Administrative                                                               
services  is working  to  modernize the  invoice  system for  its                                                               
student invoices.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
8:33:41 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
RYAN   BUCHHOLDT,  Vice   Chancellor,  Administrative   Services,                                                               
University  of Alaska  Anchorage,  gave invited  testimony on  HB
.  He explained  that the  UA Board  of Regents  requires that                                                               
fees  are set  prior to  the start  of class  registration for  a                                                               
given semester, particularly so students  may know of the cost of                                                               
a  credit before  they  register for  the class.    He said  that                                                               
currently, the fees  on the University of  Alaska Anchorage (UAA)                                                               
campus are around  $42, while the UA community  campus fees range                                                               
$14-$22 dollars.  He explained that  an itemized list of  fees is                                                               
always available on the UA course catalogue.                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
8:40:28 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  HIMSCHOOT asked  if there  are any  other postsecondary                                                               
institutions that  deliver an itemized  fee list and asked  how a                                                               
UA  student might  find the  fee  codes listed  on their  student                                                               
invoice.                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
VICE  CHANCELLOR BUCHHOLDT  said that  the way  that UAA  and its                                                               
sister institutions handle consolidated fees  is unique to the UA                                                               
system and  explained how a  student might go about  obtaining an                                                               
itemized fee statement from their consolidated fee list.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
8:44:37 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE SCHWANKE  asked if a  UA student might be  able to                                                               
challenge a consolidated fee.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
VICE  CHANCELLOR  BUCHHOLDT  explained  that  a  "contested  fee"                                                               
doesn't happen very often and has  only occurred a few times over                                                               
the previous years.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
8:48:53 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  EISCHEID  asked how  many  pages  are in  the  UA                                                               
course catalogue  and asked what is  "inherently confusing" about                                                               
the process of breaking down a student's invoice.                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
VICE  CHANCELLOR BUCHHOLDT  emphasized that  the UA  student body                                                               
and   student  government   have   expressed  a   desire  for   a                                                               
consolidated fee.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
8:52:52 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
JON   LASINSKI,   Vice   Chancellor,   Administrative   Services,                                                               
University  of Alaska  Southeast,  gave invited  testimony on  HB
.   He  explained that  the  UAS Juneau  campus established  a                                                               
consolidated  fee in  the fall  of 2013,  with its  Ketchikan and                                                               
Sitka campuses following suit in the  fall of 2015.  He said that                                                               
the fees  were implemented  in the  interest of  student feedback                                                               
and wellbeing,  and are regularly  reviewed and published  on the                                                               
UAS  website "well  in advance"  of  the start  of each  academic                                                               
year.  He said that a  recommendation of a 2019 UA internal audit                                                               
was to bring the consolidated fees  to the rest of the UA system,                                                               
given their success in streamlining  the student billing process.                                                               
He  suggested that  limiting a  bill statement  to an  electronic                                                               
mail  service  would be  problematic  and  affirmed that  the  UA                                                               
administrative  services  "remain  committed to  transparency  to                                                               
student fees."                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
8:54:57 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE EISCHEID  asked who conducted the  2019 audit that                                                               
recommended  the implementation  of consolidated  fees and  asked                                                               
why  text  message was  the  best  way  to communicate  with  its                                                               
students regarding fees.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
VICE  CHANCELLOR  LASINSKI answered  that  the  2019 UA  internal                                                               
audit  was conducted  by Mickey  Pittman and  said that  the text                                                               
message fee statement was based off of feedback from students.                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
8:56:56 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAD HUTCHINSON, Director, State  Relations, University of Alaska                                                               
System, gave  invited testimony on  HB 176.  He said that  the UA                                                               
system is  making its best effort  to work with its  students and                                                               
maintain transparency in its consolidated fees.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
8:57:49 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE EISCHEID  asked about a letter  of resolution from                                                               
the  Association  of  Students  from  the  University  of  Alaska                                                               
Fairbanks and asked about the necessity of HB 176.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
MR HUTCHINSON  said that the proposed  legislation is unnecessary                                                               
and  the  issues it  was  trying  to  address could  be  resolved                                                               
through the UA administrative process.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
9:00:57 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  CARRICK   commented  that  the  "fight"   for  an                                                               
itemized list  of consolidated  fees has been  going on  since at                                                               
least 2013. She noted that UA  students are currently able to see                                                               
a  more rudimentarily  itemized  list of  consolidated fees  than                                                               
they were  in years prior.  She emphasized that an  itemized list                                                               
of consolidated  fee would  not be "too  confusing" for  a person                                                               
enrolling in college level courses.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
9:07:25 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR STORY announced that HB 176 would be held over.