Tuition

Rep. Bryan Terry: Updates on Gas Tax, Tuition for Illegal Immigrants, Healthcare & More

April 10, 2017 By Admin

NASHVILLE, April 10, 2017– The week ending April 7 was an up and down week for issues, bills, and concerns that I am looking to address. On the positive health care side, my bill HB 590 is a “clean up” bill that adds language to the code for osteopathic physicians practicing pain management. The bill ensures that they will be able to treat patients in need of their services. It passed my Health Subcommittee. Additionally, HB 603 by Chairman Ryan Williams passed the House floor. Labor and delivery of a baby is an emergency situation. The bill clarifies that physicians can treat minors in this situation. There was some confusion among members prior to the vote, but I spoke up about the medical reasoning and the bill passed overwhelmingly.

On the negative side, several pro-patient health care bills failed this past week. My bill, “The Reliable Coverage Act”, failed in the Senate. The bill would have ensured patients taking a prescription drug for 60 days and who signed a contract with a health insurer who placed the drug on their formulary could not have their benefits changed to cost the patient more money during the year contract. I had worked with several stakeholders to amend the original bill to the best plan possible, but the senate did not ever hear my amendment. Since the original bill failed in the Senate, I took the bill off notice.

The Oral Chemo Parity Bill failed in the Senate and the Right to Care Act which protected providers from abusive maintenance of certification practices by insurers and hospitals has been basically amended to a task force. Both bills would decrease costs for patients and would remove unnecessary abuses of power, but massive swamp monster lobbying efforts doomed these positive patient and provider bills.

On the transportation front, the gas tax proposal passed through the House Finance Subcommittee. During the process, though, the committee amended the name of the legislation from Governor Haslam’s IMPROVE Act to the Tax Cut Plan of 2017. The move, in my opinion, was very disingenuous as the proposal is a massive tax increase on the average Tennessean. Washington DC is known for giving a bill a name that sounds positive to distract voters from the actual content of the bill. For example, Obamacare was originally called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It neither protected patients nor was it affordable. To paraphrase The Princess Bride, they keep using words, but they do not mean what they think they mean. Besides, the Pavement Protection and Automobile Care Act sounds more appropriate.

On a positive transportation note, Speaker Harwell and other members of leadership are working on an alternative funding proposal for transportation that doesn’t involve raising gas or diesel taxes. As I have discussed before, Tennessee has significant revenue from auto sales taxes and sales tax collections from tourism. None of those revenues go towards our transportation funding. Tennessee could easily use a percentage of those revenues to help fund transportation, and it would be revenue neutral, as well as pocketbook neutral to everyday Tennesseans. I’m still waiting for the final proposal, but I’m encouraged that leadership is still looking for a way to address the issue with the pocketbooks of average Tennesseans in mind.

Believe it or not, in state tuition for illegal immigrants has, once again, been brought up in the Tennessee General Assembly, but this time it is in the form of two separate bills. Each bill is looking to address the issue in a similar, but separate manner. While many folks on both sides of this issue have not met any of these students, I have sat down on various occasions with some of these students and their advocates. I have heard their stories. I recognize that they are in an unenviable situation and are often victims of a broken immigration system. However, two wrongs do not make a right.

While out of state tuition is outrageous, in state tuition rates do not even come close to paying the actual cost for a university to provide the education. Taxpayers subsidize between 25-75% of the education depending upon the institution of higher learning. Tennessee taxpayers should not be on the hook for subsidizing the education of non-US citizens here illegally.

As I wrote about in a previous update, there are multiple avenues for these students to achieve a higher education degree. Governor Haslam has touted Wester Governor’s University-Tennessee as an affordable way to earn a degree. It’s even cheaper than in-state tuition at MTSU. Tennessee eCampus and the University of Central Florida, are, also, much less expensive viable alternatives.

The bottom line is that we know the actual cost of a university to provide an education, which for MTSU is $1800 for 3 credit hours. In state tuition is $800 and out of state is $2800 for those same credit hours. Knowing that there is an actual cost to provide the education, as well as knowing that there are affordable and viable alternatives, it is beyond comprehension that anyone would ask taxpayers to subsidize the tuition for a non-US citizen here illegally.

When government takes taxes away from citizens and spends it on services, infrastructure, etc, in effect government is supposedly taking a piece of someone’s property(money) in exchange for government providing, protecting, or expanding one’s liberty. I fail to see how taking hard earned money from Tennesseans to subsidize tuition for these individuals provides, protects, or expands the liberty of Tennesseans. In fact, I would argue that it lessens or abridges the rights and privileges of the people of Tennessee; thus, to vote for in state tuition for illegal immigrants would be a violation of our oath of office, in my opinion.

One final comment, the Tennessee General Assembly has been named the most conservative legislature two years in a row, and I keep hearing my colleagues tout that accomplishment. I’m going to make a prediction, though. If we raise taxes on everyday Tennesseans while sitting on a billion dollar recurring surplus and give in state tuition to illegal immigrants, there won’t be a three-peat. Heck, I’m not even sure we will get a participation trophy.

With Liberty,
Rep. Bryan Terry, MD

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Tennessee Taxpayers To Pay For Illegal Immigrants’ College Tuition

April 6, 2017 By Admin

NASHVILLE, April 5, 2017– An effort to provide in-state tuition for illegal aliens is advancing through the Tennessee General Assembly. Proponents of the legislation say it doesn’t cost our state a dime, but that’s not true. If the effort is successful, tax-payers will be on the hook in a major way.

In state tuition for 3 credit hours at MTSU is around $800. Out of state tuition for those same 3 credit hours is around $2800. However, the actual cost for MTSU to provide those 3 credit hours is around $1800.

Taxpayers subsidize around $1000 for each 3 credit hours. In fact, depending upon where a student attends college in TN, taxpayers subsidize in state tuition by covering anywhere between 25-75% of the actual cost of tuition. Folks, if it is subsidized by TN taxpayers, then it is a state benefit as defined by US code 1621.

If making an education more affordable for these students who are caught in a broken system is the goal or intent, then there already is a process. Our Governor has touted Western Governors University as an option for students to receive an education with little or no student debt. In fact, WGU-Tennessee even brags about “Little or no new student debt” on the front page of their website.

Additionally, the state of Tennessee offers an eCampus program. If one looks at the cost for 3 credit hours at MTSU, it costs $1569 which is significantly less than out of state tuition and even less than the actual cost for MTSU to provide 3 credit hours in the classroom.

If a student wants to pay even less, students can attend the University of Central Florida online. 3 credit hours for a non resident is $1149.

So understanding that state subsidized education is a state benefit and there are alternative affordable options at our universities that are supported by our Governor, as well as affordable options in other states, then why would we need to provide a state benefit to non-US citizens? Again, as I stated earlier, if the goal or intent is to help non-US citizen students who are caught in a broken system to have more affordable options for higher education, there are already options and the bill isn’t necessary.

One argument I keep hearing in favor of the bill is that many of these families are paying taxes in Tennessee. According to the Tax Foundation, the average Tennessee per capita state tax collection is $1924. The bill requires that a student attend a Tennessee high school for two years prior and graduate from a Tennessee high school. In Rutherford County, the cost to taxpayers is around $9000 per pupil. Therefore, even if both parents and the student are paying around $2000 per year in taxes($6000 total), it still costs taxpayers $3000 per year to provide an education.

Assuming the parents and student are paying $6000 in state taxes, only 42% of state taxes collected goes towards k-12 and higher education. That means that of that $6000, only $2500 goes towards education. If one assumed all of that went to higher education and zero dollars went to K-12, once a student took more than 9 hours per year at an in state rate at MTSU, taxpayers would still be picking up the tab as a state subsidized benefit.

I’ve met many of these students and there are in an unenviable position, often through no fault of their own. Additionally, out of state tuition is at a price point that is prohibitive to many students, not just non-US citizens.

However, the bottom line is that we have an oath of office that states “that I will not propose or assent to any bill, vote or resolution, which shall appear to me injurious to the people, or consent to any act or thing, whatever, that shall have a tendency to lessen or abridge their rights and privileges, as declared by the Constitution of this state.” Providing a state benefit at taxpayer expense to non-US citizens is injurious to the people of Tennessee, and providing in state tuition, especially when there are alternatives, most definitely lessens and abridges the rights and privileges of Tennesseans.

With Liberty,
Rep. Bryan Terry

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Rep. Terry: What you need to know about tuition breaks for illegals immigrants

January 11, 2016 By Admin

MURFREESBORO, Tenn., January 11, 2016– HB675, the so-called “Tuition Equality” bill failed to pass in the House by 1 vote last year. This bill is otherwise known as “in-state tuition of children of illegal aliens”. Supporters of this bill aren’t presenting some simple facts, and to be honest, I’m not sure anyone else has researched this information. I know that last year, this information was not presented to me and I had to do my own research. I have even sat down with students and advocates effected by this issue, and they were completely unaware of some the facts.

Here is the bottom line, there is an “in-state” tuition rate, an “out-of-state” tuition rate, and an actual cost of education rate. Depending on where one attends college in Tennessee, the in-state tuition must be subsidized by taxpayer dollars, as in-state tuition only covers between 25-75% of the actual cost of education.

For instance, at MTSU, the in-state tuition rate for 3 credit hours is around $780. Out-of-state tuition is over $2800 for those same 3 credit hours. The actual cost of the 3 credit hours is around $1700. So, Tennessee taxpayers subsidize Tennessee students around $900 per 3 credit hours. If students must take 30 credit hours per year to graduate, then Tennessee taxpayers would be subsidizing an education $9000 per year without the Hope Scholarship. One should note that by federal law we, as Tennesseans, are required to provide a k-12 education for children of illegal aliens which in Tennessee is around $9000 per student.

According to the TBR in a meeting I attended with their representatives, they informed me that there are around 7000 students in Tennessee that meet the criteria for HB675. Since these students would not receive the Hope scholarship, let’s assume all 7000 would attend MTSU. Over a 4 year college career of 120 credit hours at a taxpayer subsidy of $900 per 3 credit hours, Tennessee taxpayers would be on the hook for around 252 million dollars. It doesn’t matter if it is one dollar or 252 million, taxpayers should not be subsidizing tuition for non-U.S. citizens in this capacity.

The counterpoint is that these students, once educated, would be in the workforce; thus paying taxes in Tennessee. And they would presumably have better jobs which would lead to these students paying higher taxes once in the workforce. However, one has to realize that they would be taking the job of a US citizen and a Tennessean.

MTSU leads the state in adult learner graduates, as well as first generation and low income graduates. These are adult learners and students from low income households who are looking toward income mobility and improving their lot in life. As someone who grew up in an auto salvage family, having become a physician, I can empathize with our Tennesseans looking to improve their situation for their families. However, by adding up to 7000 students that qualify as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals(DACA) to the workforce, Tennessee would be driving down the wages of these low income Tennesseans and devaluing their diploma.

Having met with some of the DACA students and their advocates, as well as being someone who has compassion, I recognize that these students are in an unenviable situation. Through no fault of their own, they were born to non US citizens in another country and were brought illegally to America by their parents who were looking for a better life. They have been raised in the United States and do not know any other way. They desire to better their lives and are looking for a way to do so.

However, we are a nation of laws, and we, as elected officials, have a duty to uphold our Constitution and our oath of office. Article 1 Section 21 of our Tennessee State Constitution states, “That no man’s particular services shall be demanded, or property taken, or applied to public use, without the consent of his representatives, or without just compensation being made therefore.” I would submit that debt service in the form of potentially 252 million is tax revenue demanded by those advocating this bill, would violate our state constitution.

Additionally, our oath of office states that we shall not “propose or assent to any vote, bill or resolution which shall appear to me, injurious to the people, or consent to any act or thing, whatever, that shall have a tendency to lessen or abridge their rights and privileges.” I would submit that a bill that not only places a financial burden on the taxpayers of Tennessee, but, also, lessens the rights and privileges of low income Tennesseans to improve their income mobility is a violation of our oath of office.

When I sat down with the DACA students and their advocate, they actually appeared to understand the concerns that I addressed, as, according to them, nobody had actually explained these concerns to them. If HB 675 comes before the General Assembly again this year, it is my hope that other legislators, Leadership, and the Governor will honor their oaths of office and place our taxpayers and low income students and graduates at the forefront of their decision making. People that have worked with me know that I am more than willing to sit down with people on all sides of an issue to examine the situation and look for solutions, but I will not stand for one iota of taxpayer dollars going towards in-state tuition as currently presented in HB 675. Our Tennessee taxpayers are looking for someone to to stand up for them and I will be there to lead the fight.

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