House Bill 300 | Effective: 6-20-25 |
House Author: Wilson et al. | House Committee: Higher Education |
Senate Sponsor: Hancock et al. | Senate Committee: Veteran Affairs |
House Bill 300 amends the Education Code to revise provisions governing the Texas Armed Services Scholarship Program as follows:
- increases the amount of a scholarship under the program, subject to sufficient appropriations, from $15,000 to the greater of $30,000 or an amount equal to the average cost of attendance at a public institution of higher education in Texas;
- extends scholarship eligibility to additional categories of students;
- makes the appointment of scholarship recipients and alternates by the governor, lieutenant governor, state senators, and state representatives mandatory instead of discretionary;
- sets a deadline by which a state senator or state representative must make their respective appointments and provides a mechanism for filling a vacancy in the event the deadline is not met;
- provides for a student to be exempted from the repayment of a scholarship if the student is unable to meet the obligations of the scholarship agreement solely as a result of an extraordinary circumstance outside their control;
- requires reinstatement of a student's scholarship in the event of the student's erroneous removal from the program;
- prohibits a person from receiving a scholarship for more than four academic years and removes certain existing scholarship limitations; and
- provides for the designation of a Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board employee to serve as a scholarship coordinator for scholarships awarded under the program and sets out the duties of the coordinator.