By: González of El Paso H.B. No. 4387
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of the Texas Transfer Grant pilot
program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 56, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter N, and a heading is added to that subchapter to read as
follows:
SUBCHAPTER N. TEXAS TRANSFER GRANT PILOT PROGRAM
SECTION 2. Subchapter N, Chapter 56, Education Code, as
added by this Act, is amended by adding Sections 56.321, 56.322,
56.323, 56.324, 56.325, and 56.326 to read as follows:
Sec. 56.321. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board.
(2) "Eligible institution" means a general academic
teaching institution or a medical and dental unit that offers one or
more baccalaureate degree programs. The term does not include a
public state college.
(3) "General academic teaching institution,"
"institution of higher education," "medical and dental unit," and
"public state college" have the meanings assigned by Section
61.003.
(4) "Transfer student" means a student who earned
enough credit hours prior to enrolling in an eligible institution
to no longer be considered a first time in college entering
undergraduate student, as defined by coordinating board rule, when
admitted to the eligible institution disbursing the grant.
Sec. 56.322. PROGRAM NAME; PURPOSE. (a) The student
financial assistance pilot program authorized by this subchapter is
known as the Texas Transfer Grant pilot program.
(b) The purpose of this subchapter is to provide a grant of
money to enable eligible students to attend eligible institutions
of higher education in this state.
Sec. 56.323. ADMINISTRATION OF PROGRAM. (a) The
coordinating board shall administer the grant program and shall
adopt any rules necessary to implement the grant program for this
subchapter. The coordinating board shall consult with the student
financial aid officers of eligible institutions in developing the
rules.
(b) The total amount of grants awarded under this subchapter
may not exceed the amount available for the program from
appropriations, gifts, grants, or other funds.
(c) For each academic year during which eligible students
are enrolled at an eligible institution, the coordinating board
shall allocate to that institution the amount necessary to pay to
eligible students grants under this subchapter.
(d) In determining who should receive a grant under this
subchapter, the coordinating board and the eligible institutions
shall give priority to awarding grants to students who demonstrate
the greatest financial need.
(e) The board shall establish priorities for awarding grant
assistance as the board determines appropriate to further the
purpose of this subchapter in the event that in any year the amount
of money available for grant assistance under this subchapter is
insufficient to provide grant assistance to all eligible students
described by Section 56.324.
Sec. 56.324. ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANT. (a) To be eligible for
a grant under the grant program, a student must:
(1) be eligible for Texas resident tuition purposes as
determined by coordinating board rules;
(2) meet financial need requirements as defined by the
coordinating board;
(3) be enrolled as a transfer student in a
baccalaureate degree program at an eligible institution;
(4) be enrolled for at least three-fourths of a full
course load for a student in a baccalaureate program, as determined
by coordinating board rules;
(5) have applied for any available financial aid or
assistance;
(6) not be a recipient of a TEXAS Grant under
Subchapter M for the same semester or term;
(7) make satisfactory academic progress toward a
baccalaureate degree, as determined by coordinating board rules;
and
(8) comply with any additional nonacademic
requirement adopted by the coordinating board under this
subchapter.
(b) A person is not eligible to receive a grant under this
subchapter if the person has been granted a baccalaureate degree.
(c) The coordinating board shall by rule establish the
maximum semester credit hours, or semester credit hour equivalent,
for which an eligible student may receive a grant under this
subchapter.
(d) If a student fails to meet any of the requirements of
Subsection (a)(7) after the completion of any semester or term, the
student may not receive a grant under this subchapter during the
next semester or term in which the person enrolls. A student may
become eligible to receive a grant under this subchapter in a
subsequent semester or term if the student:
(1) completes a semester or term during which the
student is not eligible for a grant; and
(2) meets all the requirements of Subsection (a).
(e) The coordinating board shall adopt rules to allow a
student who is otherwise eligible to receive a grant under this
subchapter, in the event of a hardship or for other good cause
shown, to receive a grant under this subchapter:
(1) while enrolled in a number of semester credit
hours that is fewer than the number of semester credit hours
required under Subsection (a)(4);
(2) if the student fails to meet the satisfactory
academic progress requirements adopted by the coordinating board
under Subsection (a)(7); or
(3) while enrolled in a number of semester credit
hours that exceeds the number of semester credit hours outlined in
Subsection (c).
Sec. 56.325. GRANT USE. A student receiving a grant under
this subchapter may use the money to pay any usual and customary
cost of attendance at an eligible institution incurred by the
student. The institution may disburse all or part of the proceeds
of a grant under this subchapter to an eligible student only if the
tuition and required fees incurred by the student at the
institution have been paid.
Sec. 56.326. GRANT AMOUNT. (a) The maximum amount of a
grant under this subchapter for an eligible student enrolled
full-time at an eligible institution is the amount determined by
the coordinating board as the average statewide amount of tuition
and required fees that a resident student enrolled full-time in a
baccalaureate degree program would be charged for that semester or
term at eligible institutions.
(b) The coordinating board shall determine the average
statewide tuition and fee amounts for a semester or term of the next
academic year for purposes of this section by using the amounts of
tuition and required fees that will be charged by the eligible
institutions for that semester or term in that academic year. The
board may estimate the amount of the charges for a semester or term
in the next academic year by an institution if the relevant
information is not yet available to the board.
(c) The coordinating board may adopt rules that allow the
board to increase or decrease, in proportion to the number of
semester credit hours in which a student is enrolled, the amount of
a grant award under this section to a student who is enrolled in a
number of semester credit hours in excess of or below the number of
semester credit hours described in Section 56.324(a)(4).
(d) The amount of a grant under this subchapter may not be
reduced by any gift aid for which the person receiving the grant is
eligible, unless the total amount of a person's grant plus any gift
aid received exceeds the student's total financial need at an
eligible institution.
(e) A public institution of higher education may not:
(1) unless the institution complies with Subsection
(g), charge a person attending the institution who also receives a
grant under this subchapter an amount of tuition and required fees
in excess of the amount of the grant received by the person; or
(2) deny admission to or enrollment in the institution
based on a person's eligibility to receive a grant or a person's
receipt of a grant under this subchapter.
(f) A public institution of higher education may elect to
award a grant under this subchapter to any student in an amount that
is less than the applicable amount established under Subsection (a)
or (e).
(g) A public institution of higher education shall use other
available sources of financial aid, other than a loan, to cover any
difference in the amount of a grant awarded under this subchapter to
the student and the actual amount of tuition and required fees at
the institution if the difference results from:
(1) a reduction in the amount of a grant under
Subsection (f); or
(2) a deficiency in the amount of the grant as
established under Subsection (a) or (c), as applicable, to cover
the full amount of tuition and required fees charged to the student
by the institution.
(h) The legislature in an appropriations act shall account
for tuition and required fees received under this section in a way
that does not increase the general revenue appropriations to that
institution.
SECTION 3. (a) The coordinating board and eligible
institutions shall make initial awards under the grant program
established under Subchapter N, Chapter 56, Education Code, as
added by this Act, beginning with the 2022 spring semester.
(b) The coordinating board shall adopt the initial rules for
the grant program established under Subchapter N, Chapter 56,
Education Code, as added by this Act, as soon as practicable.
SECTION 4. The coordinating board is required to implement
a provision of this Act only if the legislature appropriates money
specifically for that purpose.
SECTION 5. 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, 2021.