83R14089 KSD-F
By: Branch, Alvarado, et al. H.B. No. 29
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 29:
By: Branch C.S.H.B. No. 29
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring certain general academic teaching
institutions to offer a four-year fixed tuition price 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. FOUR-YEAR FIXED TUITION PRICE PLAN FOR
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT CERTAIN GENERAL ACADEMIC TEACHING
INSTITUTIONS. (a) In this section:
(1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board.
(2) "General academic teaching institution" and
"public state college" have the meanings assigned by Section
61.003.
(3) "Plan" means a four-year fixed tuition price plan
offered under this section.
(b) This section applies only to a general academic teaching
institution other than a public state college.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter and
except as otherwise provided by this section, the governing board
of an institution to which this section applies 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 four-year fixed tuition price plan.
(d) Unless the institution does not offer other tuition
payment options, an institution to which this section applies shall
require an entering undergraduate student to accept or reject
participation in the plan before the date of the student's initial
enrollment at the institution.
(e) A plan offered under this section must provide that:
(1) during the four academic years immediately
following the date of a student's initial enrollment at the
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) beginning with the fifth academic year following
the date the student first enrolls at the 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 under Subdivision (1) had the
student initially enrolled in the institution one year after the
student's actual initial enrollment.
(f) A fixed tuition price charged to a student by an
institution under Subsection (e) does not apply to the student
after the student has been awarded a baccalaureate degree by the
institution.
(g) Each institution to which this section applies shall
notify each entering undergraduate student, including each
undergraduate student who transfers to the institution, of the plan
offered under this section.
(h) Fees charged by an institution to a student
participating in a plan under this section may not exceed the fees
charged by the institution to a similarly situated student who
elects not to participate in the plan, if the institution offers
other tuition payment options. For purposes of this subsection,
students are similarly situated if they share the same residency
status, degree program, course load, course level, and other
circumstances affecting the fees charged to the students.
(i) Each institution to which this section applies shall
adopt any rules the institution considers appropriate for the
administration of the institution's plan under this section.
(j) This section does not require an institution to which
this section applies to offer a variable tuition price plan to
undergraduate students enrolled in the institution.
(k) This section does not apply to the tuition charged by an
institution to which this section applies to a student who enters
the institution for the first time before the 2014 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.