84R2437 JRJ-D
By: Johnson H.B. No. 3384
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the automatic admission of certain transfer students to
general academic teaching institutions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 51.8035, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 51.8035. AUTOMATIC ADMISSION OF CERTAIN TRANSFER
APPLICANTS [COMPLETING CORE CURRICULUM AT ANOTHER INSTITUTION].
SECTION 2. Section 51.8035(a)(2), Education Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(2) "General academic teaching institution" and
"public junior college" have [has] the meanings [meaning] assigned
by Section 61.003.
SECTION 3. Section 51.8035, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsection (e) to read
as follows:
(b) A general academic teaching institution shall admit an
applicant for admission to the institution as a transfer
undergraduate student who submits a completed application for
admission as a transfer student before the expiration of any
application filing deadline established by the institution and:
(1) who:
(A) graduated from high school not earlier than
the fourth school year before the academic year for which the
applicant seeks admission to the institution as a transfer student
and:
(i) [(A)] qualified for automatic
admission to a general academic teaching institution under Section
51.803 at the time of graduation; or
(ii) [(B)] was previously offered
admission under this subchapter to the institution to which the
applicant seeks admission as a transfer student;
(B) [(2)] first enrolled in a public junior
college or other public or private lower-division institution of
higher education not earlier than the third academic year before
the academic year for which the applicant seeks admission; and
(C) [(3)] completed the core curriculum at a
public junior college or other public or private lower-division
institution of higher education with a cumulative grade point
average of at least 2.5 on a four-point scale or the equivalent; or
(2) who enrolled in a public junior college and
completed at least 60 semester credit hours with a cumulative grade
point average in the top 10 percent of cumulative grade point
averages for all students of the public junior college who
completed at least 60 semester credit hours at the public junior
college during the academic year in which the applicant completed
those semester credit hours, as determined by the public junior
college under Subsection (e), provided the applicant completed the
majority of the applicant's semester credit hours at the public
junior college [and
[(4) submits a completed application for admission as
a transfer student before the expiration of any application filing
deadline established by the institution].
(c) For purposes of Subsection (b)(1) [this section],
transfer semester credit hours from a different institution of
higher education and semester credit hours earned by examination
shall be included in determining whether the person completed the
core curriculum at an institution of higher education.
(e) For purposes of Subsection (b)(2), as soon as
practicable following each academic year, each public junior
college shall calculate and report to the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board the minimum cumulative grade point average
required for a student at the public junior college to qualify for
transfer admission under that subdivision.
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act to Section
51.8035, Education Code, apply beginning with admissions to an
institution of higher education for the 2016-2017 academic year.
Admissions to an institution of higher education for an academic
year before that academic year are governed by the law in effect
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and the former
law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.