By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 27
(In the Senate - Filed November 12, 2012; January 28, 2013,
read first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education;
April 15, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 15, 2013,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 27 By: Zaffirini
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Texas B-On-time student loan program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subdivisions (2) and (3), Section 56.451,
Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
(2) "Eligible institution" means:
(A) a general academic teaching institution,
other than a public state college [an institution of higher
education]; [or]
(B) a medical and dental unit that offers
baccalaureate degrees; or
(C) a private or independent institution of
higher education that offers baccalaureate degree programs.
(3) "General academic teaching institution," "medical
and dental unit," "private or independent institution of higher
education," and "public state [junior] college," [and "public
technical institute"] have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.
SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 56.452, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(b) The purpose of this subchapter is to provide no-interest
loans to eligible students to enable those students to earn
baccalaureate degrees at [attend all] public and private or
independent institutions of higher education in this state.
SECTION 3. Section 56.455, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 56.455. INITIAL ELIGIBILITY FOR LOAN. To be eligible
initially for a Texas B-On-time loan, a person must:
(1) be a resident of this state under Section 54.052 or
be entitled, as a child of a member of the armed forces of the United
States, to pay tuition at the rate provided for residents of this
state under Section 54.241;
(2) meet one of the following academic requirements:
(A) be a graduate of a public or private high
school in this state who graduated not earlier than the 2002-2003
school year under the recommended or advanced high school program
established under Section 28.025(a) or its equivalent;
(B) be a graduate of a high school operated by the
United States Department of Defense who:
(i) graduated from that school not earlier
than the 2002-2003 school year; and
(ii) at the time of graduation from that
school was a dependent child of a member of the armed forces of the
United States; or
(C) have received an associate degree from an
[eligible] institution of higher education or private or
independent institution of higher education not earlier than May 1,
2005;
(3) be enrolled for a full course load for an
undergraduate student, as determined by the coordinating board, in
a baccalaureate [an undergraduate] degree [or certificate] program
at an eligible institution;
(4) be eligible for federal financial aid, except that
a person is not required to meet any financial need requirement
applicable to a particular federal financial aid program; and
(5) comply with any additional nonacademic
requirement adopted by the coordinating board under this
subchapter.
SECTION 4. Subsection (a), Section 56.456, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) After initially qualifying for a Texas B-On-time loan, a
person may continue to receive a Texas B-On-time loan for each
semester or term in which the person is enrolled at an eligible
institution only if the person:
(1) is enrolled for a full course load for an
undergraduate student, as determined by the coordinating board, in
a baccalaureate [an undergraduate] degree [or certificate] program
at an eligible institution;
(2) is eligible for federal financial aid, except that
a person is not required to meet any financial need requirement
applicable to a particular federal financial aid program;
(3) makes satisfactory academic progress toward a
degree [or certificate] as determined by the institution at which
the person is enrolled, if the person is enrolled in the person's
first academic year at the institution;
(4) completed at least 75 percent of the semester
credit hours attempted by the person in the most recent academic
year and has a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 on a
four-point scale or the equivalent on all coursework previously
attempted at institutions of higher education or private or
independent institutions of higher education, if the person is
enrolled in any academic year after the person's first academic
year; and
(5) complies with any additional nonacademic
requirement adopted by the coordinating board.
SECTION 5. Subsections (a), (b), and (f), Section 56.459,
Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The amount of a Texas B-On-time loan for a semester or
term for a student enrolled full-time at an eligible institution
other than an institution covered by Subsection (b) may not exceed
the[, (c), or (d) is an] amount determined by the coordinating board
to be [as] the average statewide amount of tuition and required fees
that a resident student enrolled full-time in a baccalaureate [an
undergraduate] degree program would be charged for that semester or
term at general academic teaching institutions.
(b) The amount of a Texas B-On-time loan for a student
enrolled full-time at a private or independent institution of
higher education may not exceed the [is an] amount determined by the
coordinating board to be [as] the average statewide amount of
tuition and required fees that a resident student enrolled
full-time in a baccalaureate [an undergraduate] degree program
would be charged for that semester or term at general academic
teaching institutions.
(f) If in any academic year the amount of money in the Texas
B-On-time student loan account, other than money appropriated to
the account exclusively for loans at eligible institutions that are
private or independent institutions of higher education, is
insufficient to provide the loans in the maximum amount specified
by this section to all eligible persons at eligible institutions
that are institutions of higher education [in amounts specified by
this section], the coordinating board shall determine the amount of
that available money and shall allocate that amount to those
eligible institutions in proportion to the amount of tuition set
aside by [number of full-time equivalent undergraduate students
enrolled at] each of those institutions under Section 56.465 for
the preceding academic year [institution]. In the manner
prescribed by the coordinating board for purposes of this
subsection, each eligible institution that is a private or
independent institution of higher education is entitled to receive
an allocation only from the general revenue appropriations made for
that academic year to eligible private or independent institutions
of higher education for the purposes of this subchapter. Each
institution shall use the money allocated to award Texas B-On-time
loans to eligible students enrolled at the institution selected
according to financial need.
SECTION 6. Sections 56.461 and 56.462, Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 56.461. LOAN PAYMENT DEFERRED. The repayment of a
Texas B-On-time loan received by a student under this subchapter is
deferred as long as the student remains continuously enrolled in a
baccalaureate [an undergraduate] degree [or certificate] program
at an eligible institution.
Sec. 56.462. LOAN FORGIVENESS. A student who receives a
Texas B-On-time loan shall be forgiven the amount of the student's
loan if the student is awarded a baccalaureate [an undergraduate
certificate or] degree at an eligible institution with a cumulative
grade point average of at least 3.0 on a four-point scale or the
equivalent:
(1) within:
(A) four calendar years after the date the
student initially enrolled in an [the] institution of higher
education or private or independent institution of higher education
[or another eligible institution] if[:
[(i) the institution is a four-year
institution; and
[(ii)] the student is awarded a degree
other than a degree in engineering, architecture, or any other
program determined by the coordinating board to require more than
four years to complete; or
(B) five calendar years after the date the
student initially enrolled in an [the] institution of higher
education or private or independent institution of higher education
[or another eligible institution] if[:
[(i) the institution is a four-year
institution; and
[(ii)] the student is awarded a degree in
engineering, architecture, or any other program determined by the
coordinating board to require more than four years to complete; [or
[(C) two years after the date the student
initially enrolled in the institution or another eligible
institution if the institution is a public junior college or public
technical institute;] or
(2) with a total number of semester credit hours,
including transfer credit hours and excluding hours earned
exclusively by examination, hours earned for a course for which the
student received credit toward the student's high school academic
requirements, and hours earned for developmental coursework that an
institution of higher education required the student to take under
Section 51.3062 or under the former provisions of Section 51.306,
that is not more than six hours more than the minimum number of
semester credit hours required to complete the [certificate or]
degree.
SECTION 7. Subsection (d), Section 56.456, and Subsections
(c) and (d), Section 56.459, Education Code, are repealed.
SECTION 8. (a) The change in law made by this Act in
amending Subchapter Q, Chapter 56, Education Code, applies
beginning with Texas B-On-time loans awarded for the 2014-2015
academic year.
(b) Notwithstanding Subsection (a) of this section, a
student who first receives a Texas B-On-time loan for a semester or
other academic term before the 2014 fall semester may continue to
receive Texas B-On-time loans under Subchapter Q, Chapter 56,
Education Code, as that subchapter existed immediately before the
effective date of this Act, as long as the student remains eligible
for a Texas B-On-time loan under the former law, and is entitled to
obtain forgiveness of the loans as permitted by Section 56.462,
Education Code, as that section existed immediately before the
effective date of this Act. The Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board shall adopt rules to administer this subsection
and shall notify each student who receives a Texas B-On-time loan in
the 2013-2014 academic year of the provisions of this subsection.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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