By: Thierry H.B. No. 3908
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the allocation of funds remaining in the B-On-Time
student loan account following the abolition of that account.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 56.0092, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The Texas B-On-time student loan account previously
established by former Section 56.463 continues as an account in the
general revenue fund. The account consists of:
(1) gifts and grants;
(2) any legislative appropriations received for the
purpose of awarding Texas B-On-time student loans to students who
qualify and establish eligibility for the loans as described by
Subsection (c), for Subsection (e), and for discharging any other
remaining obligations under the former Texas B-On-time student loan
program;
(3) tuition set aside under Section 56.465, as that
section existed immediately before September 1, 2015, for a
semester or term occurring before the 2015 fall semester;
(4) bond proceeds deposited under Section 52.91(a);
and
(5) any other money in the account on September 1,
2015.
(b) Money in the Texas B-On-time student loan account may be
used only to pay any costs of the coordinating board related to
loans awarded under the Texas B-On-time student loan program as
provided by Subsection (c) for a semester or term occurring before
the 2020 fall semester or for purposes of Subsection (e).
(c) Beginning with the 2015 fall semester, the coordinating
board may not award an initial Texas B-On-time student loan under
the Texas B-On-time student loan program. The coordinating board
may award, for a semester or term occurring before the 2020 fall
semester, a subsequent Texas B-On-time student loan to an eligible
student who received an initial Texas B-On-time student loan before
the 2015-2016 academic year. For Texas B-On-time student loans to
be awarded as described by this subsection:
(1) students may qualify and establish continued
eligibility, as applicable, under Subchapter Q as that subchapter
existed immediately before September 1, 2015; and
(2) the coordinating board may make loans using any
money available for the purposes of the former Texas B-On-time
student loan program.
(d) On September 1, 20210, the Texas B-On-time student loan
account is abolished, and any remaining money in the account may be
appropriated only to eligible institutions in the manner provided
by Subsection (e).
(e) An appropriation under Subsection (d) must be made in
accordance with a performance-based methodology that allocates
funding among eligible institutions based on a three-year average
of the number of bachelor's degrees conferred on at-risk student.
formula, adopted by coordinating board rule, that the coordinating
board determines fairly allocates the appropriated amount to those
eligible institutions at which the Texas B-On-time student loan
program was underutilized. For purposes of this subsection
, the
Texas B-On-time student loan program is considered to have been
underutilized by students of an institution in any period if the
institution's percentage of the total amount of tuition set aside
by all institutions under the program during the period was greater
than the institution's percentage of all students who received a
Texas B-On-time student loan under the program for the same period.
The coordinating board shall base the coordinating board's
determination on a period of academic years occurring before the
2015-2016 academic year that the coordinating board considers
representative of eligible institutions' student participation in
the Texas B-On-time student loan program.
(f) In this section, "eligible institution" means a general
academic teaching institution described by Section 56.451(2)(A) or
a medical and dental unit described by Section 56.451(2)(B), as
those paragraphs existed immediately before September 1, 2015.
(g) In this section, "at-risk student" means an
undergraduate student of an institution of higher education:
(1) whose score on the Scholastic Assessment Test
(SAT) or the American College Test (ACT), excluding the optional
essay component, is less than the national mean score of students'
scores on that test; or
(2) who has previously received a grant under the
federal Pell Grant program or met the Expected Family Contribution
(EFC) criterion for a grant under that program.
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, 2019.