83R7205 AED-F
By: N. Gonzalez of El Paso H.B. No. 2322
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to an emergency loan program at a public institution of
higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 56.033(a), (b), (d), and (e), Education
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The governing board of each institution of higher
education, including the Texas State Technical College System,
shall cause to be set aside:
(1) not less than 15 percent nor more than 25 [20]
percent out of each resident student's tuition charge under Section
54.051 as provided by the General Appropriations Act for the
applicable academic year;
(2) not less than three percent nor more than eight
percent out of each nonresident student's tuition charge under
Section 54.051;
(3) not less than six percent nor more than 25 [20]
percent out of each resident student's hourly tuition charge
exclusive of out-of-district charges, and $1.50 out of each
nonresident student's hourly tuition charge, for academic courses
at a public community or junior college; and
(4) not less than six percent nor more than 25 [20]
percent of hourly tuition charges exclusive of out-of-district
charges for vocational-technical courses at a public community or
junior college.
(b) Of the funds set aside under this section by an
institution, not less than 85 [90] percent shall be used for Texas
Public Educational Grants and not more than 15 [10] percent shall be
used for emergency loans under Subchapter D [of this chapter].
(d) Interest earned from the funds set aside for Texas
Public Educational Grants may be spent [only] for grants to
students as provided by this subchapter and for emergency loans to
students as provided by Subchapter D.
(e) To supplement money set aside under Subsection (a), the
governing board of an institution of higher education may use money
received by the institution from the fee for issuance of collegiate
license plates under Section 504.615, Transportation Code, for
awarding Texas Public Educational Grants and for providing
emergency loans under Subchapter D. The board may use the money to
award grants and provide emergency loans to both resident and
nonresident students, except that the board shall give priority to
grants or loans for resident students. [Notwithstanding Subsection
(b), the board may not use the money for emergency loans under
Subchapter D.]
SECTION 2. 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 3. 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, mandatory fees, and cost of textbooks
for the courses in which the student is actually enrolling.
SECTION 4. 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 5. (a) The change in law made by this Act to Section
56.033, Education Code, applies beginning with tuition charged for
the 2013 fall semester.
(b) The changes in law made by this Act to Subchapter D,
Chapter 56, Education Code, apply beginning with the emergency loan
program for the 2014 spring semester.
(c) Not later than September 1, 2013, the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board shall adopt the rules required by
Section 56.056, Education Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 6. 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, 2013.