82R2386 KSD-F
By: Branch H.B. No. 3025
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to measures to facilitate the transfer of students within
the public higher education system and the timely graduation of
students from public institutions of higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 54.016 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.016. FIXED TUITION RATE PROGRAM FOR CERTAIN
TRANSFER STUDENTS AT GENERAL ACADEMIC TEACHING INSTITUTIONS. (a)
In this section:
(1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board.
(2) "General academic teaching institution" has the
meaning assigned by Section 61.003.
(3) "Lower-division institution of higher education"
means a public junior college, public state college, or public
technical institute.
(b) A general academic teaching institution may develop a
fixed tuition rate program for qualified students who agree to
transfer to the institution after successfully earning an associate
degree at a lower-division institution of higher education. Under
a program developed under this section, a general academic teaching
institution must:
(1) guarantee to a participating student enrolled in
an associate degree program at a lower-division institution of
higher education, on successful completion of the associate degree
program, transfer admission to the general academic teaching
institution and acceptance into the student's degree program of
choice; and
(2) notwithstanding any other provision of this
chapter, charge tuition to a participating student for any semester
or other academic term at the same rate the general academic
teaching institution would have charged to the student during the
fall semester of the student's freshman year at another institution
of higher education had the student entered the general academic
teaching institution as a freshman student.
(c) A general academic teaching institution that develops a
fixed tuition rate program under this section shall prescribe
eligibility requirements for participation in the program and
notify applicants for transfer admission from lower-division
institutions of higher education regarding the program.
(d) In consultation with general academic teaching
institutions, the coordinating board shall adopt any rules the
coordinating board considers appropriate for the administration of
this section.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 61.05135 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.05135. STATEWIDE TRANSFER COMPACTS. (a) The
board, in collaboration with institutions of higher education,
shall develop transfer compacts that identify learning objectives
for coursework in major degree fields that are acceptable across
institutions offering coursework or degrees in those fields in an
effort to facilitate the universal articulation of specific courses
completed at public junior colleges, public state colleges, and
public technical institutes and transferred to general academic
teaching institutions.
(b) An institution of higher education shall comply with any
applicable compact under Subsection (a) entered into by the
institution and the board.
SECTION 3. Section 61.0515(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) To earn a baccalaureate degree, a student may not be
required by a general academic teaching institution to complete
more than the minimum number of semester credit hours required for
the degree by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools or
its successor unless academic accreditation or professional
licensure requirements require the [the institution determines
that there is a compelling academic reason for requiring]
completion of additional semester credit hours for the degree.
SECTION 4. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 61.05151 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.05151. SEMESTER CREDIT HOURS REQUIRED FOR ASSOCIATE
DEGREE. (a) To earn an associate degree, a student may not be
required by an institution of higher education to complete more
than the minimum number of semester credit hours required for the
degree by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools or its
successor unless academic accreditation or professional licensure
requirements require the completion of additional semester credit
hours for the degree.
(b) The board may review one or more of an institution's
associate degree programs to ensure compliance with this section.
(c) Subsection (a) does not apply to an associate degree
awarded by an institution to a student enrolled in the institution
before the 2011 fall semester. This subsection expires January 1,
2012.
SECTION 5. Sections 61.052(a) and (b), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) Each governing board shall submit to the board once each
year on dates designated by the board a comprehensive list by
department, division, and school of all courses, together with a
description of content, scope, and prerequisites of all these
courses, that will be offered by each institution under the
supervision of that governing board during the following academic
year. The list for each institution must also specifically
identify any course included in the common course numbering system
under Section 61.832 that has been added to or removed from the
institution's list for the current academic year, and the board
shall distribute that information as necessary to accomplish the
purposes of Section 61.832.
(b) After the comprehensive list of courses is submitted by
a governing board under Subsection (a) [of this section], the
governing board shall submit on dates designated by the board any
changes in the comprehensive list of courses to be offered,
including any changes relating to offering a course included in the
common course numbering system.
SECTION 6. Section 61.822, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (b), and (c) and adding Subsection (f) to
read as follows:
(a) The board, with the assistance of advisory committees
composed of representatives of institutions of higher education,
shall develop a [recommended] core curriculum of at least 36 [42]
semester credit hours, including a statement of the content,
component areas, and objectives of the core curriculum. At least a
majority of the members of any advisory committee named under this
section shall be faculty members of an institution of higher
education. An institution shall consult with the faculty of the
institution before nominating or recommending a person to the board
as the institution's representative on an advisory committee.
(b) Each institution of higher education shall adopt a core
curriculum of no less than 36 [42] semester credit hours, including
specific courses comprising the curriculum. The core curriculum
shall be consistent with the common course numbering system
approved by the board and with the statement, recommendations, and
rules issued by the board. [An institution may have a core
curriculum of other than 42 semester credit hours only if approved
by the board.]
(c) If a student successfully completes the 36-hour
[42-hour] core curriculum at an institution of higher education,
that block of courses may be transferred to any other institution of
higher education and must be substituted for the receiving
institution's core curriculum. A student shall receive academic
credit for each of the courses transferred and may not be required
to take additional core curriculum courses at the receiving
institution unless the board has approved a larger core curriculum
at the institution.
(f) In an effort to facilitate the transfer of major-related
coursework beyond the general education core curriculum, the board,
with the assistance of the advisory committees described by
Subsection (a), shall:
(1) develop a course-specific core curriculum for each
broad academic discipline within the general core curriculum; and
(2) identify those degree programs offered at
institutions of higher education to which the course-specific core
curriculum, if successfully completed by a student at another
institution of higher education, is fully transferrable.
SECTION 7. Section 61.832, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) A student who transfers from one institution of higher
education to another shall receive academic credit from the
receiving institution for each course that the student has
successfully completed that serves as an equivalent course under
the common course numbering system at the institution from which
the student transfers.
SECTION 8. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.9685 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.9685. REQUIRED FILING OF DEGREE PLAN. (a) In this
section:
(1) "Degree plan" means a statement of the course of
study requirements that an undergraduate student at a general
academic teaching institution must complete in order to graduate
from the institution, established through collaboration between
the student and an academic advisor for the student's degree
program and approved by the academic advisor.
(2) "General academic teaching institution" has the
meaning assigned by Section 61.003.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by Subsection (c), each
undergraduate student enrolled in a general academic teaching
institution shall file a degree plan with the institution not later
than the semester or term immediately following the semester or
term in which the student earned a cumulative total of 30 or more
semester credit hours for course work successfully completed by the
student, including transfer courses, advanced placement courses,
international baccalaureate courses, dual credit courses, and any
other course for which the institution the student attends has
awarded the student college course credit.
(c) An undergraduate student who begins the student's first
semester or term at a general academic teaching institution with 30
or more semester credit hours of course credit for courses
described by Subsection (b) shall file a degree plan with the
institution during the student's first regular semester at the
institution.
(d) A student may not register for any course offered by the
institution for a semester or term succeeding the semester or term
in which the student is required to file a degree plan under this
section unless the student has filed a degree plan with the
institution.
(e) After filing a degree plan with an institution as
required by this section, an undergraduate student may not change
the student's degree plan or enroll in a course that is not included
in the student's degree plan unless the student has consulted with
the student's academic advisor and satisfied any applicable
prerequisite or other requirement imposed by the institution
regarding that degree plan change or course enrollment, as
applicable.
(f) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board may adopt
rules as necessary for the administration of this section.
SECTION 9. The change in law made by this Act to Section
61.0515(a), Education Code, applies beginning with undergraduate
students who initially enroll in a general academic teaching
institution for the 2011 fall semester.
SECTION 10. Sections 61.052(a) and (b), Education Code, as
amended by this Act, apply to the comprehensive lists of courses
offered by public institutions of higher education beginning with
lists required to be submitted for the 2012-2013 academic year.
SECTION 11. (a) Not later than May 31, 2012, the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board shall develop a core
curriculum, including the core curricula for broad academic
disciplines included within the general core curriculum, that
conforms to the requirements of Section 61.822, Education Code, as
amended by this Act.
(b) Each public institution of higher education in this
state shall revise its core curriculum as necessary to conform to
the requirements of Section 61.822, Education Code, as amended by
this Act, and shall require students to comply with the
institution's revised core curriculum beginning with the 2014 fall
semester, except that an institution shall permit a student who was
enrolled in the institution before the 2014 fall semester to comply
with the core curriculum requirements applicable to that student
before that semester. Each institution of higher education shall
issue course catalogs that reflect the applicable core curriculum
under Section 61.822, Education Code, consistent with this
subsection. This subsection expires at the beginning of the 2016
fall semester.
SECTION 12. Section 61.832(e), Education Code, as added by
this Act, applies beginning with the 2011 fall semester.
SECTION 13. Section 51.9685, Education Code, as added by
this Act, applies beginning with undergraduate students who
initially enroll in a general academic teaching institution for the
2011 fall semester.
SECTION 14. 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.