S.B. No. 28
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 and whose expected family
contribution, as determined according to the methodology used for
federal student financial aid, does not exceed 60 percent of the
average statewide amount of tuition and required fees described by
Section 56.307(a). In giving priority based on financial need as
required by this subsection to students who meet the requirements
for the highest priority as provided by Subsection (f), a general
academic teaching institution shall determine financial need
according to the relative expected family contribution of those
students, beginning with students who have the lowest expected
family contribution.
(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. Subsection (h), Section 56.304, 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 the
equivalent of at least 12 semester credit hours of college credit 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. Subchapter M, Chapter 56, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 56.3045 to read as follows:
Sec. 56.3045. TOLLING OF ELIGIBILITY FOR INITIAL AWARD.
(a) This section applies only to a person who:
(1) was eligible to receive an initial TEXAS grant in
an academic year for which sufficient money was not available
through legislative appropriations to allow the coordinating board
to award initial TEXAS grants to at least 10 percent of the persons
eligible for initial TEXAS grants in that year, as determined by the
coordinating board;
(2) has not previously been awarded a TEXAS grant; and
(3) has not received a baccalaureate degree.
(b) Provided that the person meets the requirements
described by Section 56.305(a), a person to whom this section
applies is eligible to receive an initial TEXAS grant in any
academic year in which funding is sufficient to award initial TEXAS
grants to eligible applicants for that year. The person's
eligibility for an initial TEXAS grant under this section is not
affected by:
(1) the period for which the person has been enrolled
at an eligible institution; or
(2) any statutory changes to the eligibility
requirements for initial TEXAS grants that are enacted after the
person first established eligibility for an initial TEXAS grant as
described by Subsection (a)(1).
(c) A person who is eligible for an initial TEXAS grant
under this section is entitled to the highest priority as described
by Section 56.303(f) if the person was entitled to that priority
when the person first established eligibility for an initial TEXAS
grant as described by Subsection (a)(1).
(d) A person who receives an initial TEXAS grant under this
section:
(1) may receive subsequent TEXAS grants as provided by
Section 56.305; and
(2) is not entitled to TEXAS grants for any previously
completed academic year.
SECTION 6. Section 56.311, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (c-1) to read as follows:
(c-1) Not later than September 1 of each year, the
coordinating board shall provide a report to the committee
regarding the operation of the TEXAS grant program, including
information from the three preceding state fiscal years as follows:
(1) allocations of TEXAS grants by eligible
institution, disaggregated by initial and subsequent awards;
(2) the number of TEXAS grants awarded to students
disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and expected family
contribution;
(3) disaggregated as required by Subdivision (2) and
reported both on a statewide basis and for each eligible
institution, the number of TEXAS grants awarded to students who
meet:
(A) only the eligibility criteria described by
Section 56.304; or
(B) the eligibility criteria described by
Section 56.3041(2)(A); and
(4) the persistence, retention, and graduation rates
of students receiving TEXAS grants.
SECTION 7. 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 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 28 passed the Senate on
April 6, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 24, Nays 7;
May 5, 2011, Senate refused to concur in House amendments and
requested appointment of Conference Committee; May 17, 2011, House
granted request of the Senate; May 29, 2011, Senate adopted
Conference Committee Report by the following vote: Yeas 28,
Nays 3.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 28 passed the House, with
amendments, on April 21, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 136,
Nays 12, one present not voting; May 17, 2011, House granted
request of the Senate for appointment of Conference Committee;
May 24, 2011, House adopted Conference Committee Report by the
following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 1, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor