LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE
75th Regular Session
April 18, 1997
TO: Honorable Teel Bivins, Chair IN RE: Senate Bill No. 1907, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
Committee on Education By: Bivins
Senate
Austin, Texas
FROM: John Keel, Director
In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on SB1907 ( Relating
to tuition and fees charged by public institutions of higher
education, including redesignation of certain fees as tuition.)
this office has detemined the following:
Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by SB1907-Committee Report 1st House, Substituted FN Revision 1
Implementing the provisions of the bill would result in a net
impact of $0 to General Revenue Related Funds through the biennium
ending August 31, 1999.
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal
basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions
of the bill.
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Education Code to allow the governing
boards of institutions to set tuition rates within specified
ranges. The bill would exclude tuition above the minimum level
from educational and general funds and would require that it
is not accounted for in determining an institution's general
revenue appropriation. The bill would redesignate the general
use fee as tuition.
The bill would increase the tuition at
a law school from $75 per semester credit hour to $100 per semester
credit hour.
The bill would allow governing boards to set
graduate tuition rates equal to the minimum undergraduate rate
but no more than 1.5 times the maximum undergraduate rate. The
bill would allow the governing board of universities to set
undergraduate resident tuition for the 1997-98 academic year
between $34 and $68 per semester credit hour; between $36 and
$72 per semester credit hour for the 1998-99 academic year;
between $38 and $76 per semester credit hour for the 1999-2000
academic year; and between $40 and $80 per semester credit hour
for the 2000-2001 academic year.
The bill would authorize
a governing board to waive fees under certain circumstances
including for students enrolled only in distance learning courses
and for students that cannot reasonably be expected to use the
services, provided that waiver of the fees will still enable
the institution to provide the service or facility and meet
any debt obligations.
The bill would authorize governing
boards to fix and collect rentals, rates, and charges from students
and other for use of facilities. This revenue could be used
towards paying bonds. The bill would modify the range for Texas
Public Education Grants set aside to not less than nine percent
to not more than 15 percent of resident tuition.
The change
to tuition would take effect for the 1997 fall semester.
Methodolgy
Because the bill would maintain the current minimum charges
for tuition and would designate any amounts over the minimum
as institutional funds that are not to be accounted for in the
appropriations process, there would be no impact on general
revenue funding to institutions. Because the bill reclassifies
the general use fee as tuition but does not authorize an increase
in the total tuition that an institution could charge as compared
to the amount that an institution could previously have charged
for tuition and fees, there would be no impact on the amount
of institutional funds for institutions of higher education.
The
bill would increase the amount of tuition charged at a law school
by $25 per semester credit hour. The semester credit hours
during the base period for law totaled 109,465. The increase
in Other Educational and General Income (Other E&G) amounts
are shown in the table below. This increase in Other E&G would
result in a redistribution of general revenue from the law schools
under the all funds methodology. The institutions with law
schools are UT Austin, University of Houston, Texas Southern
University, and Texas Tech University.
It is assumed that
the fee waivers for distance learning courses and for students
that cannot use the facility or services would not have a significant
fiscal impact on the institutions.
The probable fiscal implications of implementing the provisions
of the bill during each of the first five years following passage
is estimated as follows:
Five Year Impact:
Fiscal Year Probable Revenue
Gain/(Loss) from
Other
Educational and
General Income/
GR-Dedicated
8022
1998 $2,736,625
1998 2,736,625
2000 2,736,625
2001 2,736,625
2002 2,736,625
Net Impact on General Revenue Related Funds:
The probable fiscal implication to General Revenue related funds
during each of the first five years is estimated as follows:
Fiscal Year Probable Net Postive/(Negative)
General Revenue Related Funds
Funds
1998 $0
1999 0
2000 0
2001 0
2002 0
Similar annual fiscal implications would continue as long as
the provisions of the bill are in effect.
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source: Agencies:
LBB Staff: JK ,LP ,LD