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Senate Bill 1343 |
Senate Author: Hinojosa |
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Effective: Vetoed |
House Sponsor: Gonzales |
Senate Bill 1343 amends the Education Code to exclude semester credit hours earned by a student before receiving an associate degree that has been previously awarded to the student and credit hours for a dual credit course for which the student received credit toward a high school diploma in determining whether the student has previously earned the number of semester credit hours allowed under the funding formulas proposed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for the use of the governor and the Legislative Budget Board in making appropriations recommendations to the legislature for higher education. The bill makes its provisions applicable beginning with the funding recommendations for the 2011-2012 academic year.
Reason Given for Veto: 'Currently, higher education institutions may not receive formula funds for excess credit hours taken by students beyond the established cap, and they may charge students higher tuition rates for those hours. The cap is 30 hours above those required for the degree.
'Senate Bill No. 1343 would exclude all dual-credit courses and all credit hours earned by students prior to receiving an associate degree from counting toward the excess credit hour cap, and would increase the cap to 90 or more hours above those required for a degree.
'I have signed House Bill No. 101, which passed this session, because I agree with its provisions to exclude dual-credit courses from the excess credit hour cap.
'A provision in Senate Bill No. 1343 that would exclude all community college hours from the cap would not effectively address the real problem that many transfer students face: the fact that some credits do not count toward their baccalaureate degrees. This wastes students’ time and money, and taxpayer dollars.
'The best solution is to improve articulation agreements and student advising so that students are able to transfer more hours to count toward their degrees. Instead, House Bill No. 1343 increases the cap to 90 or more hours above those required for a degree, removing important incentives for students and community colleges to focus on degree completion. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is currently studying this issue, and I encourage the board members to continue looking for ways to ensure that more hours transfer. I am confident that they will find solutions that will benefit students and institutions.'