By:  Armbrister                                       S.B. No. 1080
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to tuition and fees at public institutions of higher
    1-2  education.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 54.051(i), Chapter 54, Education Code, is
    1-5  amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (i)  Tuition for a resident student registered at a law
    1-7  school is $75 <$60> per semester credit hour.  Tuition for a
    1-8  nonresident student registered at a law school is $200 <$150> per
    1-9  semester credit hour.
   1-10        SECTION 2.  Section 54.008, Education Code, is amended by
   1-11  amending Subsection (a) adding Subsections (e) and (f) to read as
   1-12  follows:
   1-13        (a)  The tuition rates provided by Subchapter B of this
   1-14  chapter are minimum rates.  Except for optometry programs, the
   1-15  <The> governing board of each institution of higher education shall
   1-16  set tuition for graduate programs for that institution at a rate
   1-17  that is at least equal to that prescribed by Subchapter B of this
   1-18  chapter, but that is not more than twice the rate prescribed by
   1-19  this chapter.  Between the maximum and minimum rates, the board may
   1-20  set the differential tuition among programs offered by an
   1-21  institution of higher education.
   1-22        (e)  The governing board of an institution of higher
   1-23  education shall set tuition for optometry programs at a rate that
    2-1  is at least equal to that prescribed in Subchapter B of this
    2-2  chapter, but that is not more than triple the rate prescribed by
    2-3  this chapter.
    2-4        (f)  For the purposes of this Section, undergraduate pharmacy
    2-5  programs may be considered graduate programs.
    2-6        SECTION 3.  Section 54.0512(b), Education Code, is amended by
    2-7  adding Subdivisions (7), (8), (9) and (10) to read as follows:
    2-8              (7)  for the 1997-1998 academic year, $34 per semester
    2-9  credit hour.
   2-10              (8)  for the 1998-1999 academic year, $36 per semester
   2-11  credit hour.
   2-12              (9)  for the 1999-2000 academic year, $38 per semester
   2-13  credit hour.
   2-14              (10)  for the 2000-2001 academic year, $40 per semester
   2-15  credit hour.
   2-16        SECTION 4.  Section 54.064(a) is amended to read as follows:
   2-17        (a)  A student who holds a competitive academic scholarship
   2-18  of at least $500 <$200> for the academic year or summer for which
   2-19  the student is enrolled and who is either a nonresident or a
   2-20  citizen of a country other than the United States of America is
   2-21  entitled to pay the fees and charges required of Texas residents
   2-22  without regard to the length of time the student has resided in
   2-23  Texas. The student must compete with other students, including
   2-24  Texas residents, for the academic scholarship and the scholarship
   2-25  must be awarded by a scholarship committee officially recognized by
    3-1  the administration and be approved by the Texas Higher Education
    3-2  Coordinating Board under criteria developed by the board.
    3-3        SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect for the academic year
    3-4  commencing in the Fall, 1995.
    3-5        SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-6  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-7  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-8  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-9  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   3-10  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   3-11  passage, and it is so enacted.