82R10216 KJM-D
By: Gonzalez H.B. No. 2565
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring a public institution of higher education to
establish and provide notice regarding an emergency loan program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 56.051, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 56.051. EMERGENCY LOANS. Each institution of higher
education shall [may] establish an emergency loan program under
which students are loaned money to pay tuition, fees, costs of
on-campus housing, and the costs of textbooks.
SECTION 2. Section 56.053(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The governing board of each institution shall adopt
rules providing for the terms of the loan, subject to the following:
(1) the loan must be repaid over a period not to exceed
180 [90] days for a loan made for a regular semester or long summer
session or over a proportionately shorter period for loans made for
a six-week summer session;
(2) the loan must be evidenced by a written or
electronic agreement providing for one of the following:
(A) interest on the loan at a rate of not more
than five percent per year; or
(B) an origination fee of not more than 1.25
percent of the amount of the loan; and
(3) the loan amount per student may not exceed an
amount equal to the tuition and mandatory fees for the courses in
which the student is actually enrolling.
SECTION 3. Subchapter D, Chapter 56, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 56.056 to read as follows:
Sec. 56.056. NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF EMERGENCY LOAN. (a)
Each institution of higher education shall provide notice of the
emergency loan program to each student in a prominently printed
statement that appears on or is included with the student's tuition
bill or billing statement for the payment of the student's tuition.
(b) If for any semester or other academic term the
institution does not provide the student with a printed tuition
bill or tuition billing statement, the institution shall include
the notice required by Subsection (a) for that semester or other
term in a statement prominently displayed in an e-mail sent to the
student. The notice may be included in any other e-mail sent to the
student in connection with the student's tuition charges for that
semester or other term.
(c) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board by rule
shall prescribe minimum standards for the manner, form, and content
of the notice required by this section.
SECTION 4. (a) The changes in law made by this Act apply
beginning with the emergency loan program for the 2012 spring
semester.
(b) Not later than September 1, 2011, the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board shall adopt the rules required by
Section 56.056, Education Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 5. 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, 2011.