Utah / State / 2026 General Session
2026 Utah Laws ch 230 (S.B. 220) Raised the Purple Heart graduate tuition waiver cap from $10,000 to $15,000 and repealed the ten-year deadline for starting graduate study
Amended Utah Code section 53H-11-303, the Purple Heart tuition waiver, and did two things. It raised the cap in what is now subsection 3, paragraph "b" from $10,000 to $15,000 of total graduate tuition waived. And it struck the old paragraph (b) entirely, which had read: "To qualify for a graduate tuition waiver, a Purple Heart recipient shall apply for a graduate program no later than 10 years from the day on which the Purple Heart recipient completes an undergraduate degree." The bill’s own long title describes it as removing "a provision related to a Purple Heart recipient applying for a graduate program waiver" and increasing "the limit for a tuition waiver". The five-year limit on the duration of a graduate waiver, the undergraduate waiver with no cap, and the exclusion of fees are all unchanged. Tracked because the repeal of the ten-year rule reopens the graduate waiver to every Utah Purple Heart recipient whose undergraduate degree is more than a decade behind them, which is most of them, and because a recipient refused on that ground before the May 6, 2026 effective date should ask again rather than assume the refusal still stands.
Progress
Path to law: Bill in a two-chamber legislature
- Introduced Done, Senate
- In committee Done, Senate Education, then House Government Operations
- Passed one chamber Done, Senate, 25-0
- Passed both chambers Done, House, 62-1
- Signed by the governor Done,
- In effect Done,
Sponsors
- Ann Millner
- Val L. Peterson
What it touches
- Utah Code § 53H-11-303
Catalog entry
Official record
Read 2026 Utah Laws ch 230 (S.B. 220) on the jurisdiction's own record