The bill prohibits the Board of Regents of the UW System from charging
resident undergraduate academic fees in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years
that are more than the fees charged in the 2020-21 academic year.
Tuition promise grant program
The bill creates a new grant program administered by the Board of Regents.
This program provides grants in the form of “last-dollar awards” to supplement the
gap between any scholarships or grants that an eligible student receives outside of
this program and the full cost of tuition and segregated fees during either eight
consecutive semesters for incoming freshmen or four consecutive semesters for
incoming transfer students. Summer terms are not counted in the consecutive
semester count, and students may not receive the grants for summer terms.
Students eligible for the grants must be new incoming students enrolled in their first
bachelor's degree whose household federal adjusted gross income is equal to or less
than $60,000 a year, and must be enrolled in an on-campus program at a UW System
institution other than UW-Madison. The bill requires the Board of Regents to
promulgate rules to implement and administer the grant program.
Student loan servicers; Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman
The bill creates an Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman (office) in DFI and
requires student loan servicers to be licensed by this office. The bill contains a
variety of provisions governing student education loans, student loan borrowers, and
student loan servicers. Under the bill, a “student education loan" means a loan that
is extended to a student loan borrower expressly for postsecondary education
expenses or related expenses. A “student loan borrower" means a resident of this
state who has received or agreed to pay a student education loan or a person who
shares legal responsibility for repaying the loan. A “student loan servicer" means a
person responsible for the servicing of a student education loan, but excludes certain
state-regulated financial service providers. “Servicing” means receiving scheduled
periodic payments from a student loan borrower; applying payments received from
a student loan borrower; and performing other administrative services with respect
to a student education loan.

The bill requires a student loan servicer, wherever located, to be licensed by the
office before directly or indirectly engaging in servicing student education loans in
this state. A student loan servicer must hold a separate license for each of its places
of business and the student loan servicer may not act under any name or at any place
of business that is not identified in the license.
The bill imposes numerous requirements on student loan servicers, including
requirements relating to all of the following:
1. Responding to written inquiries from student loan borrowers.
2. Handling and applying “nonconforming payments," defined as payments on
student education loans that are different from the required payments.
3. Responsibilities if there is a sale, assignment, or other transfer of the
servicing of a student education loan.
4. Maintaining and making available to the office records related to student
education loan transactions.
The bill also prohibits a student loan servicer from engaging in certain conduct
or activity, including the following:
1. Defrauding or misleading a student loan borrower.
2. Engaging in an unfair or deceptive practice or misrepresenting or omitting
material information in connection with the servicing of a student education loan.
3. Misapplying student education loan payments.
4. Providing inaccurate information to a credit bureau related to a student loan
borrower's creditworthiness.
5. Refusing to communicate with an authorized representative of a student
loan borrower.
6. Failing to evaluate a student loan borrower for an income-based repayment
program prior to placing the student loan borrower in default.
The bill also specifies the authority of the office to conduct investigations and
examinations and take administrative action and also provides a private right of
action for violations of the requirements or prohibitions under the bill.
The bill requires the office to perform certain functions, including 1) assisting
student loan borrowers; 2) receiving and attempting to resolve complaints from
student loan borrowers and others; 3) compiling and analyzing data about these
complaints; 4) assisting student loan borrowers in various ways; 5) providing
information to the public and others regarding the problems and concerns of student
loan borrowers; and 6) analyzing and monitoring the development and
implementation of laws and policies relating to student loan borrowers.
Although the bill exempts certain state-regulated financial service providers,
primarily state-chartered financial institutions, from licensing and most other
requirements applicable to student loan servicers, the bill requires these exempt
organizations to cooperate with the office and provide information requested by the
office necessary to investigate and resolve student loan borrower complaints.
Technical college district revenue limits
The bill increases the limit on certain revenue, primarily derived from the
property tax levy, that technical college districts may generate.

Under current law, with certain exceptions, a technical college district board
may not increase its revenue each school year by more than the greater of 1) 0
percent, or 2) the percentage change in the district's equalized value due to new
construction, less improvements removed, between the previous year and the
current year. The amount of this limit is called the “valuation factor.” A district
board's revenue is the sum of its tax levy for operations and the amount of aid it
receives for property tax relief and tax-exempt personal property.
The bill increases part 1) of the valuation factor from 0 percent to 2 percent,
allowing an increase of a district board's revenue by 2 percent over the previous year
regardless of any change in the district's equalized value due to net new construction.
Changes to Minnesota-Wisconsin Reciprocity Agreement
Under current law, the Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) administers
and has authority to renegotiate the Minnesota-Wisconsin tuition reciprocity
agreement. The agreement provides for the waiver of nonresident tuition for
residents of either state who are enrolled in public vocational schools and for a
reciprocal fee structure for residents of either state who are enrolled in public
institutions of higher education located in the other state.
The bill requires the UW System to enter into, administer, and renegotiate with
Minnesota a tuition reciprocity agreement that provides for the waiver of
nonresident tuition and for a reciprocal fee structure for residents of either state who
are enrolled in public institutions of higher education located in the other state. The
bill requires that all the tuition paid by Minnesota students attending UW
institutions under the agreement, including tuition commonly referred to as
differential reciprocity tuition, be credited to a UW System appropriation account
from which UW System expenditures are authorized.
The bill also requires HEAB to enter into, administer, and renegotiate with
Minnesota a fee reciprocity agreement that provides for the waiver of nonresident
fees for residents of either state who are enrolled in public vocational schools in the
other state.