By: Eltife S.B. No. 1272
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to tuition rates and formula funding for certain
nonresident students enrolled at Texas A&M University--Texarkana.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (a) and (f), Section 54.060,
Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The nonresident tuition fee prescribed by this chapter
does not apply to a nonresident student who is a resident of
Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, or Oklahoma and who registers in
Texas A&M University--Texarkana [a public upper-level institution
of higher education], Lamar State College--Orange, Lamar State
College--Port Arthur, a Texas public junior college, or a public
technical institute, if the institution [that] is situated in a
county immediately adjacent to the state in which the nonresident
student resides. The nonresident tuition fee prescribed by this
chapter does not apply to a nonresident student who is a resident of
New Mexico or Oklahoma and who registers in a public technical
institute that is situated in a county that is within 100 miles of
the state in which the nonresident student resides and who is
admitted for the purpose of utilizing available instructional
facilities. The nonresident student described in this subsection
shall pay an amount equivalent to the amount charged a Texas student
registered at a similar school in the state in which the nonresident
student resides. [For purposes of this subsection, "public
upper-level institution of higher education" means an institution
of higher education that offers only junior-level and senior-level
courses or only junior-level, senior-level, and graduate-level
courses.]
(f) The payment of resident tuition at Texas A&M
University--Texarkana, Lamar State College--Orange, Lamar State
College--Port Arthur, or a public technical institute as authorized
by Subsection (a) or at an institution of higher education as
authorized by Subsection (g) does not affect the constitutionally
dedicated funding to which institutions of higher education are
entitled under Article VII, Section 17, of the Texas Constitution.
SECTION 2. Section 61.059, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (n) to read as follows:
(n) In the formula applicable to Texas A&M
University--Texarkana for funding instruction and operations, the
board shall include any semester credit hours taught through
distance education to students enrolled at that university who
reside in another state and:
(1) as permitted by Section 54.060(a), pay tuition at
the rate charged to residents of this state; and
(2) reside in a county in the other state that is
contiguous to the county in which the university is located.
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, 2011.