A lawsuit filed against MU could change the application of the Returning Heroes Act, a statute designed to reduce tuition for combat veterans, on a statewide level.
MU and other state schools that receive federal funding are, under the Returning Heroes Act, required to cap undergraduate tuition to $50 per credit hour for veterans who served after Sept. 11, 2001, in a designated combat zone. In-state undergraduate students typically pay $245.60 per credit hour.
Controversy surrounding the statute has arose due to the question of whether the federal aid should be distributed before or after the addition of non-tuition fees, such as room and board rates. MU does not include costs besides tuition when applying the aid granted veterans from the Returning Heroes Act.
“Our campuses use the methodology recommended by the Department of Higher Education, which is to apply other financial aid first, then the Returning Heroes,” UM System spokeswoman Jennifer Hollingshead said in an e-mail.
Simon Law Firm in St. Louis will represent a group of veterans comprised of MU students, as well as students from other federally-funded Missouri higher education institutions.
Attorney John Campbell said the suit rests on the belief the federal aid should cover not only tuition, which comprises on 40 percent of most college costs, but the costs of attending college as well.
“The primary problem is that right now is that if someone receives aid from the federal government the schools are applying it all to tuition even though that aid is also for room and board, etc.,” Campbell said. “The result is that the school is often paid its full tuition, the same tuition you or I or anyone who is not a combat veteran would pay. Often the aid is completely depleted paying the tuition and the combat veterans’ federal aid is gone.”
MU General Counsel Phillip Hoskins and Vice Provost for Admissions Ann Korschgen did not comment on the situation, as MU’s legal policy does not permit discussion on pending litigation.
The veterans’ charge against MU will focus on the clear intent of the Returning Heroes Act to reduce tuition for combat veterans, Campbell said.
“In the way it’s being applied right, we do not believe (the Returning Heroes Act) is reducing tuition in most cases and even the cases in which tuition reduction occurs the reduction is less than it should be under the law,” Campbell said. “We believe the statute requires that the tuition for combat veterans be reduced in a significant way.”
Campbell said the lawsuit became necessary after conversations involving the law firm and the university yielded no result. In addition, the law firm hopes the decision, whether made by a judge or a court of appeals, will impact Missouri on a statewide level, rather than just MU.
“Once a court of appeals speaks with some authority or we reach an agreement as to what the law means and how it should be applied, all schools should follow suit, and we’ll see uniformity in application,” Campbell said.
Campbell said he considers representing the veterans an honor to himself and his law firm.
“I don’t know if it is necessarily an advantage, but it is a privilege to represent combat veterans,” Campbell said. “To an extent right now the statute helps them less than it should. We argue that it should help them more, and I don’t know who would disagree with that.”