82R13595 KEL-D
By: Branch, Howard of Travis, Hunter, Aycock, H.B. No. 10
Villarreal, et al.
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 10:
By: Howard of Travis C.S.H.B. No. 10
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to eligibility for a TEXAS grant and to administration of
the TEXAS grant program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the TEXAS Grant
College Readiness Reform Act.
SECTION 2. Section 56.303, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsections (d-1), (e), and (f)
to read as follows:
(d) From money appropriated by the legislature for the
purposes of this subchapter, the coordinating board annually shall
determine the allocation of money available for TEXAS grants among
general academic teaching institutions and other eligible
institutions and shall distribute the money accordingly.
(d-1) In allocating among general academic teaching
institutions money available for initial TEXAS grants for an
academic year, the coordinating board shall ensure that each of
those institutions' percentage share of the total amount of money
for initial grants that is allocated to general academic teaching
institutions under this subsection for that year does not, as a
result of the number of students who establish eligibility at the
institution for an initial grant under Section 56.3041(2)(A),
change from the institution's percentage share of the total amount
of money for initial grants that is allocated to those institutions
under this subsection for the preceding academic year.
(e) In determining who should receive a TEXAS grant, the
coordinating board and the eligible institutions shall give
[highest] priority to awarding TEXAS grants to students who
demonstrate the greatest financial need.
(f) Beginning with TEXAS grants awarded for the 2013-2014
academic year, in determining who should receive an initial TEXAS
grant, each general academic teaching institution, in addition to
giving priority as provided by Subsection (e), shall give highest
priority to students who meet the eligibility criteria described by
Section 56.3041(2)(A). If there is money available in excess of the
amount required to award an initial TEXAS grant to all students
meeting those criteria, a general academic teaching institution
shall make awards to other students who meet the eligibility
criteria described by Section 56.304(a)(2)(A), provided that the
institution continues to give priority to students as provided by
Subsection (e).
SECTION 3. Section 56.304(h), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(h) The coordinating board shall adopt rules to allow a
person who is otherwise eligible to receive a TEXAS grant, in the
event of a hardship or for other good cause shown, including a
showing of a severe illness or other debilitating condition that
may affect the person's academic performance or that the person is
responsible for the care of a sick, injured, or needy person and
that the person's provision of care may affect the person's academic
performance, to receive a TEXAS grant while enrolled in a number of
semester credit hours that is less than the number of semester
credit hours required under Subsection (a)(5) or Section
56.3041(5), as applicable. The coordinating board may not allow a
person to receive a TEXAS grant while enrolled in fewer than six
semester credit hours.
SECTION 4. Subchapter M, Chapter 56, Education Code, is
amended by amending Section 56.3041 and adding Section 56.3042 to
read as follows:
Sec. 56.3041. INITIAL ELIGIBILITY OF PERSON GRADUATING FROM
HIGH SCHOOL ON OR AFTER MAY 1, 2013, AND ENROLLING IN A GENERAL
ACADEMIC TEACHING INSTITUTION. Notwithstanding Section 56.304(a),
to be eligible initially for a TEXAS grant, a person graduating from
high school on or after May 1, 2013, and enrolling in a general
academic teaching institution must:
(1) be a resident of this state as determined by
coordinating board rules;
(2) meet the academic requirements prescribed by
Paragraph (A), (B), or (C) as follows:
(A) be a graduate of a public or accredited
private high school in this state who completed the recommended
high school program established under Section 28.025 or its
equivalent and have accomplished any two or more of the following:
(i) graduation under the advanced high
school program established under Section 28.025 or its equivalent,
successful completion of the course requirements of the
international baccalaureate diploma program, or earning of 12 or
more credits in high school through courses described in Sections
28.009(a)(1), (2), and (3);
(ii) satisfaction of the Texas Success
Initiative (TSI) college readiness benchmarks prescribed by the
coordinating board under Section 51.3062(f) on any assessment
instrument designated by the coordinating board under Section
51.3062(c) or (e), or qualification for an exemption as described
by Section 51.3062(p), (q), or (q-1);
(iii) graduation in the top one-third of
the person's high school graduating class or graduation from high
school with a grade point average of at least 3.0 on a four-point
scale or the equivalent; or
(iv) completion for high school credit of
at least one advanced mathematics course following the successful
completion of an Algebra II course, as permitted by Section
28.025(b-3), or at least one advanced career and technical course,
as permitted by Section 28.025(b-2);
(B) have received an associate degree from a
public or private institution of higher education; or
(C) if sufficient money is available, meet the
eligibility criteria described by Section 56.304(a)(2)(A);
(3) meet financial need requirements established by
the coordinating board;
(4) be enrolled in an undergraduate degree or
certificate program at the general academic teaching institution;
(5) except as provided under rules adopted under
Section 56.304(h), be enrolled as:
(A) an entering undergraduate student for at
least three-fourths of a full course load, as determined by the
coordinating board, not later than the 16th month after the
calendar month in which the person graduated from high school;
(B) an entering undergraduate student who
entered military service not later than the first anniversary of
the date the person graduated from high school and who enrolled for
at least three-fourths of a full course load, as determined by the
coordinating board, at the general academic teaching institution
not later than 12 months after being honorably discharged from
military service; or
(C) a continuing undergraduate student for at
least three-fourths of a full course load, as determined by the
coordinating board, not later than the 12th month after the
calendar month in which the person received an associate degree
from a public or private institution of higher education;
(6) have applied for any available financial aid or
assistance; and
(7) comply with any additional nonacademic
requirements adopted by the coordinating board under this
subchapter.
Sec. 56.3042. INITIAL QUALIFICATION [ELIGIBILITY] OF
PERSON ON TRACK TO MEET ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS [COMPLETE
RECOMMENDED OR ADVANCED CURRICULUM]. (a) If at the time an
eligible institution awards TEXAS grants to initial recipients for
an academic year an applicant has not completed high school or the
applicant's final high school transcript is not yet available to
the institution, the student is considered to have satisfied the
eligibility requirements of Section 56.304(a)(2)(A) or
56.3041(2)(A) if the student's available high school transcript
indicates that at the time the transcript was prepared the student
was on schedule to graduate from high school and to meet the
eligibility requirements [complete the recommended or advanced
high school curriculum or its equivalent], as applicable to the
student, in time to be eligible for a TEXAS grant for the academic
year.
(a-1) If at the time an eligible institution awards TEXAS
grants to initial recipients for an academic year an applicant who
is an associate degree candidate has not completed that degree or
the applicant's final college transcript is not yet available to
the institution, the student is considered to have satisfied the
associate degree requirement of Section 56.304(a)(2)(B) or
56.3041(2)(B) if the student's available college transcript
indicates that at the time the transcript was prepared the student
was on schedule to complete the associate degree in time to be
eligible for a TEXAS grant for the academic year.
(b) The coordinating board or the eligible institution may
require the student to forgo or repay the amount of an initial TEXAS
grant awarded to the student as described by Subsection (a) or (a-1)
if the student fails to meet the eligibility requirements of
Section 56.304(a)(2)(A), 56.3041(2)(A), 56.304(a)(2)(B), or
56.3041(2)(B), as applicable to the student, [complete the
recommended or advanced high school curriculum or its equivalent]
after the issuance of the available high school or college
transcript.
(c) A person who is required to forgo or repay the amount of
an initial TEXAS grant under Subsection (b) may subsequently become
eligible to receive an initial TEXAS grant under Section 56.304 or
56.3041 by satisfying the associate degree requirement prescribed
by Section 56.304(a)(2)(B) or 56.3041(2)(B) and the other
[applicable] requirements of those sections applicable to the
person [that section] at the time the person reapplies for the
grant.
(d) A person who receives an initial TEXAS grant under
Subsection (a) or (a-1) and is not required to forgo or repay the
amount of the grant under Subsection (b) may become eligible to
receive a subsequent TEXAS grant under Section 56.305 only by
satisfying the associate degree requirement prescribed by Section
56.304(a)(2)(B) or 56.3041(2)(B), as applicable to the person, in
addition to the requirements of Section 56.305 at the time the
person applies for the subsequent grant.
SECTION 5. The change in law made to Subchapter M, Chapter
56, Education Code, by this Act applies beginning with TEXAS grants
awarded for the 2013 fall semester. Grants awarded for a semester
or term before the 2013 fall semester are governed by the applicable
law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.