By Naishtat                                           H.B. No. 3138
         76R6395 KEL-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the authority of a governing board of a public
 1-3     institution of higher education to reduce tuition or prorate fees
 1-4     charged to a student at that institution.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
 1-7     amended by adding Section 54.010 to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 54.010.  REDUCTION IN TUITION.  (a)  The governing board
 1-9     of an institution of higher education may reduce the amount of
1-10     tuition charged to a student under this chapter to an amount less
1-11     than the amount otherwise required by this chapter if the board:
1-12                 (1)  offers the tuition reduction to the student as
1-13     part of an institutional policy adopted by the board to:
1-14                       (A)  increase the average semester credit hour
1-15     course load of students enrolled at the institution; or
1-16                       (B)  improve the retention and graduation rate of
1-17     students enrolled at the institution; and
1-18                 (2)  determines that the student is:
1-19                       (A)  enrolled in, and making satisfactory
1-20     progress toward completion of, a degree program offered at the
1-21     institution; and
1-22                       (B)  enrolled in at least 15 semester credit
1-23     hours at the institution during the semester or term for which the
1-24     reduction is offered.
 2-1           (b)  The governing board may offer a tuition reduction under
 2-2     this section in a fixed dollar amount, a percentage amount, or any
 2-3     other manner that the board considers appropriate.
 2-4           (c)  The amount of tuition reduction offered to a student
 2-5     under this section for a semester or term may not exceed the amount
 2-6     of tuition that would have been charged to the student under this
 2-7     chapter for enrollment in three semester credit hours during that
 2-8     semester or term.
 2-9           (d)  For a tuition reduction offered to a student under this
2-10     section, the governing board may prorate the amount of the
2-11     reduction based on:
2-12                 (1)  the number of semester credit hours in which the
2-13     student is enrolled; or
2-14                 (2)  the length of the semester or term for which the
2-15     student is enrolled.
2-16           (e)  The governing board is not required to offer a tuition
2-17     reduction under this section to all institutions of higher
2-18     education under its governance or to all degree programs offered at
2-19     an institution of higher education under its governance.
2-20           SECTION 2.  Subchapter E, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
2-21     amended by adding Section 54.5025 to read as follows:
2-22           Sec. 54.5025.  PRORATION OF FEES.  Based on the length of the
2-23     semester or term for which a student is enrolled, the governing
2-24     board of an institution of higher education may prorate the amount
2-25     of any fee charged to the student under this chapter.
2-26           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect beginning with tuition and
2-27     fees charged for the 1999 fall semester.
 3-1           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-6     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-7     passage, and it is so enacted.