(Des Moines) A bill to provide tuition waivers and stipends to students with maximum scores on certain standardized tests moved ahead Tuesday with support from subcommittee members.
House File 154 would require state universities to waive tuition and fees and offer a $5,000 per-semester stipend to students who receive the highest possible marks on the college readiness tests offered by ACT, Inc. and the College Board, also known as the ACT and SAT.
In order to maintain the waived costs and stipend, the bill states students “must make satisfactory academic progress toward graduation.”
Rep. Heather Hora, R-Washington, chaired the subcommittee and was joined by Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis and Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport.
Iowa Board of Regents State Relations Officer Jillian Carlson said waivers and stipends would be new for universities to offer students, as usually those who score highest on standardized tests receive full-tuition scholarships, and the board would hope to see state support for the costs of this endeavor.
Kurth voiced concern for the legislation, but said she’d like to know more about how many current students would qualify to have their tuition and fees waived based on their test scores, as the number, and costs associated with it under the proposed legislation, could be significant.
“The intent, I think, of the bill is really good,” Kurth said. “I think we just need to get more information.”
Hora agreed, saying some slight changes to the bill may be in order alongside learning more about potential costs.
Collins said he sees this bill as a “return to merit” for Iowa’s higher education system after the Legislature banned diversity, equity and inclusion offices at state universities. He added he was willing to look at ways for the state to help universities with these scholarships and stipends and to allow standardized tests outside of the ACT and SAT to be eligible under the legislation.
“I’d also maybe entertain an amendment to allow other kinds of standardized tests, since the SAT and the ACT are kind of losing their monopoly status on standardized college prep courses, such as the Classic Learning Test,” Collins said. “I think (it) might be a good addition, but I’m happy to sign off.”
The bill will move to the House Higher Education Committee for further consideration.
