The Idaho Senate approved a measure that would allow veterans from anywhere in the U.S. to relocate to Idaho and receive in-state tuition at a state university or college. The change could save a veteran up to $10,000 a year in tuition costs.
“This is an additional tool to help those veterans that have served at least two years and are separated under honorable conditions,” said Diane Bilyeu, D-Pocatello. She said she sponsored the legislation after talking with veterans at an event at Idaho State University last year. Her measure now heads to the House.
Several states, including Oregon, New Mexico, and Ohio, have enacted similar tuition breaks in the past few years. Montana, Wyoming, and few other states offer free tuition for veterans who lived in that state prior to enlisting. Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, has a similar measure that has yet to make it out of a House committee. UPDATE: Hagedorn wrote, in the comments below, that he is now a co-sponsor on Bilyeu’s legislation. Read IdahoReporter.com’s first story on the tuition breaks for veterans here. Bilyeu’s legislation is available here.
Just FYI, when I saw that Sen. Bilyeu was working on a similar proposal, we both got together and working with the state Board of Education, re-wrote what we were both doing into one bill. Rep. Smith and I are both co-sponsors on the Senate bill that Diane restarted. My bill and this bill both have the same end effect so instead of wasting time and money doing two bills, I thought it best to just work together on a single bill and get it done… the end objective is the same, so this was the right thing to do.
Cheers,
Marv
Rep. Hagedorn,
Thank you for the clarification. I’ve updated the story to reflect your comments.