By Coleman                                            H.B. No. 2467
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to tuition and fees at public institutions of higher
    1-3  education.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 54.051(i), Chapter 54, Education Code, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (i)  Tuition for a resident student registered at a law
    1-8  school is $75 (<$60>) per semester credit hour.  Tuition for a
    1-9  nonresident student registered at a law school is $200 (<$150>) per
   1-10  semester credit hour.
   1-11        SECTION 2.  Section 54.008, Education Code, is amended by
   1-12  amending subsection (a) adding subsections (e) and (f) to read as
   1-13  follows:
   1-14        (a)  The tuition rates provided by Subchapter B of this
   1-15  chapter are minimum rates.  Except for optometry programs, the
   1-16  (<The>) governing board of each institution of higher education shall
   1-17  set tuition for graduate programs for that institution at a rate
   1-18  that is at least equal to that prescribed by Subchapter B of this
   1-19  chapter, but that is not more than twice the rate prescribed by
   1-20  this chapter.  Between the maximum and minimum rates, the board may
   1-21  set the differential tuition among programs offered by an
   1-22  institution of higher education.
   1-23        (e)  The governing board of an institution of higher
    2-1  education shall set tuition for optometry programs at a rate that
    2-2  is at least equal to that prescribed in subchapter B of this
    2-3  chapter, but that is not more than triple the rate prescribed by
    2-4  this chapter.
    2-5        (f)  For the purposes of this Section, undergraduate pharmacy
    2-6  programs may be considered graduate programs.
    2-7        SECTION 3.  Section 54.0512(b), Education Code, is amended by
    2-8  adding subdivisions (7), (8), (9) and (10) to read as follows:
    2-9              (7)  for the 1997-1998 academic year, $34 per semester
   2-10  credit hour.
   2-11              (8)  for the 1998-1999 academic year, $36 per semester
   2-12  credit hour.
   2-13              (9)  for the 1999-2000 academic year, $38 per semester
   2-14  credit hour.
   2-15              (10)  for the 2000-2001 academic year, $40 per semester
   2-16  credit hour.
   2-17        SECTION 4.  Section 54.064(a) is amended to read as follows:
   2-18        (a)  A student who holds a competitive academic scholarship
   2-19  of at least (<$200>) ($500 for the academic year or summer for which
   2-20  the student is enrolled and who is either a nonresident or a
   2-21  citizen of a country other than the United States of America is
   2-22  entitled to pay the fees and charges required of Texas residents
   2-23  without regard to the length of time the student has resided in
   2-24  Texas. The student must compete with other students, including
   2-25  Texas residents, for the academic scholarship and the scholarship
    3-1  must be awarded by a scholarship committee officially recognized by
    3-2  the administration and be approved by the Texas Higher Education
    3-3  Coordinating Board under criteria developed by the board.
    3-4        SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect for the academic year
    3-5  commencing in the Fall, 1995.
    3-6        SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-7  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-8  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-9  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-10  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   3-11  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   3-12  passage, and it is so enacted.