83R1465 KSD-D
By: Branch H.B. No. 29
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring general academic teaching institutions to
offer a fixed tuition rate plan to undergraduate students.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 54.017 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.017. FIXED TUITION RATE OPTION FOR UNDERGRADUATE
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.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter and
except as otherwise provided by this section, the governing board
of a general academic teaching institution shall offer each
entering undergraduate student, including each undergraduate
student who transfers to the institution regardless of the number
of semester credit hours transferred by the student, the
opportunity to participate in a fixed tuition rate plan.
(c) A fixed tuition rate plan offered under this section
must provide that:
(1) during the 48 months immediately following the
date of a student's initial enrollment at the general academic
teaching institution, the institution may not charge tuition to the
student for a semester or other academic term at a rate that exceeds
the rate the institution would have charged the student for the same
courses during:
(A) the first academic year in which the student
enrolled at the institution, if the student initially enrolled for
a fall or spring semester; or
(B) the academic year immediately following the
summer term in which the student enrolled at the institution, if the
student initially enrolled for a summer term; and
(2) after the fourth anniversary of the date the
student first enrolls at the institution, regardless of whether the
student is continuously enrolled in the institution after that
initial enrollment, the institution may not charge tuition to the
student for a semester or other academic term at a rate that exceeds
the rate the institution would have charged the student under
Subdivision (1) had the student initially enrolled in the
institution one year after the student's actual initial enrollment.
(d) A fixed tuition rate charged to a student by a general
academic teaching institution under Subsection (c) does not apply
to the student after the student has been awarded a baccalaureate
degree by the institution. A student who previously completed a
baccalaureate degree program at the institution is considered to be
an entering undergraduate student for purposes of this section if
the student subsequently enrolls in another undergraduate degree
program at the institution.
(e) Each general academic teaching institution shall notify
each entering undergraduate student, including each undergraduate
student who transfers to the institution, of the fixed tuition rate
plan offered under this section.
(f) In consultation with the general academic teaching
institutions, the coordinating board shall adopt any rules the
coordinating board considers appropriate for the administration of
this section.
(g) This section does not require a general academic
teaching institution to offer an alternative tuition plan to
undergraduate students enrolled in the institution.
(h) This section does not apply to the tuition charged by a
general academic teaching institution to a student who enters the
institution for the first time before the 2013 fall semester. This
subsection expires January 1, 2020.
SECTION 2. 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.