A provision that opponents say would discourage older Kentuckians from taking free college classes was approved by the Republican-controlled House Wednesday — even as 17 Republicans joined 19 Democrats in voting no.
House Bill 497 would require Kentuckians who are 65 and older to file the Free Application for Federal Financial Aid (FAFSA) to continue to qualify for a tuition waiver that the legislature created in 1976 to promote lifelong learning.
Rep. Lisa Willner, a Democrat from Louisville, said the FAFSA requirement would be a barrier to seniors while serving no useful purpose. She urged House members “to show your support for seniors. It’s important for our seniors to know that they don’t just have one advocate and friend on this House floor.”
After the vote, Willner said she was encouraged by the bipartisan support in a chamber that mostly splits along party lines. “I’m hopeful that we can work with the Senate to preserve the barrier-free Donovan Scholars program that has served Kentuckians so well for the past 50 years.”
The new requirement is part of a larger bill sponsored by Republican Rep. James Tipton, chair of the House Standing Committee on Postsecondary Education. Its goal is to partially relieve public universities and colleges of unfunded mandates to waive tuition for students who belong to groups the legislature has designated through the years, including survivors of first responders and military veterans killed or disabled on duty.
Tipton’s bill requires more of the younger groups to apply for financial aid to offset part of the cost of educating them; their tuition waivers would then cover the difference between their state and federal tuition grants and their tuition and fees.
Tipton has said including Donovan Scholars in the FAFSA requirement would make it consistent across student groups.
But Willner said “these senior learners really are in a different category from the other extremely deserving recipients of the tuition waivers.” She said faculty and students have told her the FAFSA requirement would be a barrier and tripwire for senior learners.
“The FAFSA filing requirement is intrusive,” Willner said. “It requires the submission of tax returns, current balances of cash, savings and checking accounts and net worth of investments to a governmental entity that would not otherwise have access to this information. That may be fine to a younger person who doesn’t have all these assets. For an older learner, it’s a huge barrier, and there are trust issues with government and with data privacy.”
Willner said the requirement on Donovan Scholars also would create new administrative chores for public universities and colleges but would raise them little to no money since most elders would not qualify for need-based tuition grants.
According to the Council on Postsecondary Education, tuition waivers for about 5,000 students result in $31 million in foregone revenue for public universities and colleges each year. The universities are asking lawmakers to compensate them by putting $30 million a year into a new trust fund.
Tipton has said it would be difficult for the legislature to provide the requested $30 million. On Wednesday, he said he has been told his bill would save public universities and colleges $10 million to $12 million a year.
He said the tuition waiver for Kentuckians 65 and older — there were 948 of them in 2023-24 — costs the institutions $2.75 million each year.
But Willner said the Donovan Scholars are not a real cost to the institutions. “It’s an accounting issue. It’s not actual money.”
She said the waiver for senior learners is cost-effective because all the institutions “have to do is what they’re already doing. They don’t have to add new faculty, new programs, new courses” to accommodate the older students.
Willner had filed an amendment to Tipton’s bill that would have left the waiver for seniors unchanged with no requirement to file for financial aid. But her amendment was ruled out of order because Tipton had filed a new version of the bill that was approved Wednesday on the House floor. Willner had attached her amendment to an earlier version approved in committee.
Tipton first filed a bill that would have ended the tuition waiver for people 65 and older.
Nathan Goldman, chair of the University of Louisville Donovan Scholars, a campus club, told the Lantern that Tipton’s bill that cleared the House Wednesday would have the same practical effect as ending the waiver for seniors because few would be willing to complete the financial aid application. “The FAFSA is still a fairly complex form and requires the disclosure of sensitive financial information that many seniors would find intrusive.”
Willner said 39 states provide statewide tuition waivers to senior citizens and the other 11 states have substantial discounts and/or full tuition waivers at some colleges and universities.
The House approved HB 497 by a vote of 56-36.