LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                          Austin, Texas

                           FISCAL NOTE
                       74th Regular Session

                          April 25, 1995



 TO:     Honorable Bill Ratliff, Chair, Chair   IN RE:  Senate BillNo. 1491
         Committee on Education                         By: Shapiro
         Senate
         Austin, Texas






FROM: John Keel, Director

In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on Senate Bill No.
1491 (Relating to testing and remedial education of students 55
years of age or older and to tuition and fees charged to those
students at public institutions of higher education) this office
has determined the following:

The bill would exempt a resident or nonresident student 55 years
of age or older from the Texas Academic Skills Program (testing
and remediation).  It would also allow public institutions of
higher education to charge such students tuition which is lower
than the tuition rates set in statute.  The lowered tuition could
be different for different courses of study, but rates would be
applied consistently to all students 55 or older.

If Fall 1994 there were 3,884 students 55 years or older
attending public community colleges.  Those students were
enrolled in an average of five semester credit hours.  During the
same semester, 2,128 students 55 years or older were attending
public senior colleges enrolled in an average of six semester
credit hours.

It is anticipated that exempting students 55 or older from the
Texas Academic Skills Program will have no significant fiscal
implications to the State or units of local government.  While
offering variable reduced tuition for students 55 years and older
would result in a loss of tuition income and could result in more
students attending public institutions, since the bill would
allow institutions to do so but would not require reduced
tuition, the fiscal implications cannot be determined.  Given the
relatively small number of students and semester credit hours    




potentially  affected by the bill, it is anticipated that any 
fiscal implications would be insignificant.





Source:   Higher Education Coordinating Board
          LBB Staff: JK, MK, WRR