§18B-10-6. Fee waivers -- Professional and graduate schools.

In addition to the fee waivers authorized for undergraduate study by the provisions of section five of this article, each governing board periodically may establish fee waivers for study in graduate and professional schools under its jurisdiction, including medicine and dentistry, entitling the recipients to waiver of tuition, capital and other fees subject to the following conditions and limitations:

(a) Graduate and professional fee waivers established by the governing boards of Marshall University and West Virginia University, respectively, are subject to the provisions of section six-a of this article;

(b) For the governing boards of state institutions of higher education other than the state institutions of higher education known as Marshall University and West Virginia University, the following conditions apply:

(1) An institution may not have in effect at any time graduate and professional school fee waivers totaling more in value than five percent of the tuition and required fees assessed for all full-time equivalent graduate and professional students registered during the corresponding fall semester, spring semester and summer term of the immediately preceding academic year. In addition to the five percent in this subdivision, all graduate assistants employed by these institutions shall be granted a fee waiver.

(2) Each graduate or professional school fee waiver entitles the recipient to waiver of the tuition, capital and other fees as may be prescribed by the governing boards and is for a period of time not to exceed the number of semesters normally required in the recipient's academic discipline.

(3) The governing boards shall make rules pursuant to the provisions of section six, article one of this chapter governing the award of graduate and professional school fee waivers; the issuance and cancellation of certificates entitling the recipients to the benefits of the waivers; the use of the fee waivers by the recipients; and the rights and duties of the recipients with respect to the fee waivers. These rules may not be inconsistent with the provisions of this section.

(4) The awarding of graduate and professional school fee waivers shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting of each governing board.

(5) An institution may grant fee waivers to its employees, their spouses and dependents, and these waivers are not counted when determining the maximum percentage of waivers permitted by this section.

(6) Any fee waivers mandated by this article or by section three, article nineteen, chapter eighteen of this code are not counted when determining the maximum percentage of waivers permitted by this section.