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Senate Bill 1227 |
House Author: Shapiro et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-05 |
Senate Sponsor: Morrison |
Senate Bill 1227 amends Education Code provisions relating to enrollment in higher education, including the costs of higher education, student financial aid programs, and other measures to improve student access to higher education.
The bill includes regional education service centers and other entities offering a state-approved alternative educator certification program in the Hinson-Hazlewood student loan program and authorizes student loans from the Texas Opportunity Plan Fund to qualified applicants enrolled in such programs.
A college or university is allowed to use its student deposit fund to award grants under the Texas Public Educational Grants Program to resident students and to use money from certain collegiate license plate fees to award grants to both resident and nonresident students, giving priority to resident students.
Senate Bill 1227 clarifies eligibility criteria for an award through the Early High School Graduation Scholarship Program and provides for an extension of time to use a state credit for tuition and mandatory fees for persons performing U.S. military service. The bill also provides a $1,000 state credit applicable toward tuition or tuition and mandatory fees for a person who graduated before September 1, 2005, after completing requirements for a high school diploma in not more than 36 months if the person completed a program other than the recommended or advanced high school program and requires certain notification and publication about the credit.
The bill amends the scope of the TEXAS Grant Program to limit grants to eligible students attending public colleges and universities, but it adds a temporary provision, set to expire September 1, 2015, that allows a student who was awarded a grant to pay the cost of attending a private or independent college or university in the 2005 fall semester or an earlier academic term to continue receiving grants while enrolled at that institution if the person remains otherwise eligible. The bill prohibits a student at a private or independent institution from receiving both a TEXAS grant and a tuition equalization grant for the same semester or term regardless of eligibility, but a student otherwise eligible for both grants is entitled to the larger of the two grants. It also includes provisions relating to grant amounts at different types of institutions. It provides that funding for health care professions student grants is from any excess money available from the TEXAS Grant Program after grants have been awarded to all eligible applicants, renames the TEXAS Grant II Program as the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant Program, and establishes the same satisfactory academic progress requirements and hardship provisions as apply to the TEXAS Grant Program.
A person who receives an initial tuition equalization grant after the 2004-2005 academic year and then fails to meet any of the applicable requirements after completing a semester or term becomes ineligible for a grant during the next semester or term in which the student enrolls but may reestablish eligibility by completing that semester or term and meeting all of the applicable requirements. The bill also provides an exception to the limit on such grants.
The bill requires the coordinating board to conduct separate studies on the following issues: (1) the actual cost of attending each college and university and the resources students use to cover that cost; (2) the feasibility of implementing an automatic admissions program for undergraduate students who earn an associate degree or certificate at a junior college and apply to transfer to a four-year college or university; (3) the tuition exemptions and waivers authorized under Chapter 54, Education Code; and (4) alternative methods of funding the TEXAS Grant Program.
Senate Bill 1227 requires the coordinating board, in cooperation with certain specified entities, to develop a comprehensive financial aid training program for public school counselors, employees of college financial aid offices, and other appropriate persons. The bill creates and requires the coordinating board to administer the Higher Education Enrollment Assistance Program to: (1) provide information related to college enrollment, including admissions and financial aid information, to prospective students in three areas of the state identified by the board as having a significant number of high school graduates who do not attend college; and (2) help those prospective students complete admissions and financial aid applications. Contingent on available funding, the bill requires the board to expand the program to additional areas that meet the same criteria. The bill also amends the Education Code and the Government Code to transfer from the coordinating board to the adjutant general of the state military forces administrative responsibility for tuition assistance programs for state military forces personnel.
A student is allowed to elect to pay college tuition and fees by installment regardless of whether the student intends to apply a financial aid award administered by the school toward the tuition and fees, unless the financial aid available to the student covers the total amount of the tuition and fees. The bill also includes provisions relating to delayed financial awards. Contingent on legislative appropriations, it establishes a pilot program to reduce resident undergraduate tuition rates by one-fourth for students enrolled in a summer session or term at Texas A&M University in 2006 or 2007. It amends the eligibility criteria for a tuition and fee exemption for an educational aide. It also expands the scope of a college's or university’s emergency loan program to include textbook loans and allows the school’s governing board to adopt rules that allow it to select emergency loan recipients from among the eligible applicants according to financial need, regardless of when their applications are received, if program funds are insufficient to provide loans to each applicant. The bill eliminates the 10-year term limit on Hinson-Hazlewood loans and allows the coordinating board to set the maximum loan period.
Senate Bill 1227 provides for the appointment by the governor of a nonvoting student regent to the governing board of each university system and of each public college or university that is not part of a university system, establishes requirements and procedures for the solicitation of applications and the selection of candidates for the governor's consideration when appointing a student regent to each board, and sets forth the limitations, powers, and duties applicable to that position. It also includes provisions relating to the administration of funds for the Texas B-On-time program.