Amends TCA Title 8 and Title 49.

Present law contains multiple waivers and discounts of tuition or fees for state institutions of higher education including: (1) A tuition discount for children of public school teachers; (2) A tuition discount for children of state employees; and (3) A tuition waiver for children or spouses of veterans currently or formerly officially declared prisoners of war or missing in action or died during an armed conflict. Under this bill, in order for tuition or fee waiver or discount for state institutions of higher education to be enforceable, the general assembly must appropriate a sum sufficient to fully fund the discount or waiver. This bill will apply to all acts creating discounts or waivers enacted by the general assembly after January 1, 2021. State institutions of higher education will not be required to offer the waiver discount to students in the academic year when sufficient funding is not appropriated. This bill specifies that it does not affect acts of the general assembly that mandated discounts or waivers on or before January 1, 2021, nor does it affect any scholarship, grant, or financial aid program. This bill requires that each public institution of higher education report annually: (1) The costs to the institution of providing each state-mandated discount or waiver program; (2) The number of students at the institution participating in each state-mandated discount or waiver program; and (3) Projections of costs and student participation in discount or waiver programs over the next 10 fiscal years. The report must be submitted to the Tennessee higher education commission, the office of legislative budget analysis, and the chairs of the education committees in both the senate and the house of representatives by March 1, 2022, and each March 1 thereafter.