81R956 CAS-D
By: Castro H.B. No. 4049
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to student Internet access to certain financial and
academic information maintained by public institutions of higher
education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.973 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.973. STUDENT INTERNET ACCESS TO FINANCIAL AND
ACADEMIC INFORMATION. In accordance with guidelines adopted by the
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and to the extent the
institution is legally authorized to provide access to relevant
information, each institution of higher education shall provide a
method by which each student enrolled in the institution may
access, through the institution's Internet website:
(1) the student's current financial status, including:
(A) any amount of tuition or fees the student
owes;
(B) any institutional, state, federal, private,
or other grant, loan, or other financial aid available specifically
to the student through the institution's financial aid office,
including the applicable amounts of aid; and
(C) any amount of money the student owes on a
student financial aid loan the student received through the
institution's financial aid office; and
(2) the student's current academic status, including:
(A) a list of the courses in which the student is
currently enrolled;
(B) a list of the courses that the student has
completed at the institution or at another institution for which
the institution has granted or will grant the student course
credit, and the grade assigned for each course; and
(C) information concerning the required and
elective courses, including the number of semester credit hours,
that the student must complete for the student's degree plan.
SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2010, the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board shall adopt guidelines as required by
Section 51.973, Education Code, as added by this Act. Not later
than August 1, 2010, each public institution of higher education
shall provide a method by which the institution's students may
access financial and academic information as required by that
section.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.