AN ACT to expand the resident rate of tuition for the nc promise tuition plan to include certain Daca recipients.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 116‑143.11 reads as rewritten:

§ 116‑143.11.  NC Promise Tuition Plan; State buy down of certain financial obligations; annual report.

(a)        The NC Promise Tuition Plan shall be established and implemented as provided by this section. Notwithstanding G.S. 116‑143 G.S. 116‑143, G.S. 116‑143.1, and G.S. 116‑11(7), the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina shall set the rate of undergraduate tuition for Elizabeth City State University, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Western Carolina University as follows: beginning University, beginning with the 2018 2021 fall academic semester, according to the following:

(1)        the The rate of tuition for students deemed to be North Carolina residents for purposes of tuition and persons who meet all of the following qualifications shall be five hundred dollars ($500.00) per academic semester semester:

a.         The person received a high school diploma from a secondary school or high school within North Carolina or received a high school equivalency diploma within North Carolina.

b.         The person attended North Carolina schools for a minimum of two consecutive years immediately prior to high school graduation.

c.         If the person is a beneficiary of the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, the person shall provide documentation to the constituent institution to which the person is enrolled demonstrating that the person is a DACA beneficiary.

d.         The person satisfies the admission standards for the constituent institution to which the person applied and has secured admission and enrolled as a student at the constituent institution.

(2)        and the The rate of tuition for nonresident students shall be two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) per academic semester.

(a1)      Any information obtained as part of the process of applying for the established tuition rate pursuant to subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of this section shall be confidential and is not a public record.

(b)        Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the State shall buy down the amount of any financial obligation resulting from the established tuition rate that may be incurred by Elizabeth City State University, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Western Carolina University.

(c)        When implementing the provisions of this section, the Board of Governors shall give due consideration to maintaining the unique historical character of each institution, including service to students who are first generation, college‑going, economically disadvantaged, or minority.

(d)       By October 1, 2018, 2022, and by October 1 of each year thereafter, the Board of Governors and the chancellors of Elizabeth City State University, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Western Carolina University, respectively, shall submit a report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, the House Appropriations Committee on Education, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Education/Higher Education, and the Fiscal Research Division on the amount of any financial obligation resulting from the established tuition rate incurred at each constituent institution and at least the following information for the fiscal year:

(1)        The amount required to offset the forgone tuition receipts at each of the three constituent institutions as a result of the tuition rate established by this section and how those funds were allocated to each constituent institution.

(2)        The number of enrolled resident students under subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of this section at each constituent institution.

(3)        The number of enrolled nonresident students at each constituent institution.

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2021‑2022 academic year.