For purposes of the First Responder Recruitment and Retention Act:

(1) Associate degree program means a degree program at a community college, state college, or state university which typically requires completion of an organized program of study of at least sixty semester credit hours or an equivalent that can be shown to accomplish the same goal. Associate degree program does not include a baccalaureate degree program;

(2) Baccalaureate degree program means a degree program at a community college, state college, or state university which typically requires completion of an organized program of study of at least one hundred twenty semester credit hours or an equivalent that can be shown to accomplish the same goal;

(3) Community college means a public postsecondary educational institution which is part of the community college system and includes all branches and campuses of such institution located within the State of Nebraska;

(4) Law enforcement officer means any person who is responsible for the prevention or detection of crime or the enforcement of the penal, traffic, or highway laws of the State of Nebraska or any political subdivision of the state for more than one hundred hours per year and who is authorized by law to make arrests;

(5) Law enforcement agency means a police department in a municipality, a sheriff's office, and the Nebraska State Patrol;

(6) Professional firefighter means a firefighter or firefighter-paramedic who is a member of a paid fire department of a municipality or a rural or suburban fire protection district in this state, including a municipality having a home rule charter or a municipal authority created pursuant to a home rule charter that has its own paid fire department, and for whom firefighting is a full-time career;

(7) State college means a public postsecondary educational institution which is part of the Nebraska state college system and includes all branches and campuses of such institution located within the State of Nebraska;

(8) State university means a public postsecondary educational institution which is part of the University of Nebraska and includes all branches and campuses of such institution located within the State of Nebraska; and

(9) Tuition means the charges and cost of tuition as set by the governing body of a state university, state college, or community college.