By Bivins S.B. No. 345
76R3815 JSA-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the formula funding and tuition charged for certain
1-3 excess credit hours of undergraduate students attending
1-4 institutions of higher education.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 61.0595, Education Code, is amended by
1-7 amending Subsections (a), (b), and (d) and adding Subsection (e) to
1-8 read as follows:
1-9 (a) In the formulas established under Section 61.059, the
1-10 board may not include funding for semester credit hours earned by a
1-11 resident undergraduate student who before the semester or other
1-12 academic session begins has previously attempted the maximum number
1-13 of [170 or more] semester credit hours provided by this subsection
1-14 for courses taken at any institution of higher education while
1-15 classified as a resident student for tuition purposes. The maximum
1-16 number of semester credit hours previously attempted by a student
1-17 to be used for purposes of this subsection is determined according
1-18 to the minimum number of semester credit hours required for
1-19 completion of the degree or certificate program in which the
1-20 student is enrolled in the term or semester for which the funding
1-21 is being determined, according to the following table:
1-22 MINIMUM SEMESTER CREDIT HOURS MAXIMUM NUMBER OF HOURS
1-23 REQUIRED FOR DEGREE OR CERTIFICATE: PREVIOUSLY ATTEMPTED:
1-24 fewer than 130 170
2-1 at least 130 but less than 140 180
2-2 at least 140 but less than 150 190
2-3 at least 150 but less than 160 200
2-4 at least 160 but less than 170 210
2-5 more than 170 220
2-6 (b) For purposes of Subsection (a), an undergraduate student
2-7 who is not enrolled in a degree or certificate program is
2-8 considered to be enrolled in a degree program requiring a minimum
2-9 of 120 semester credit hours [Subsection (a) does not apply to a
2-10 student enrolled in:]
2-11 [(1) two or more baccalaureate degree programs at the
2-12 same time;]
2-13 [(2) a double major degree program that requires 130
2-14 or more semester credits for completion; or]
2-15 [(3) a health professional baccalaureate degree
2-16 program].
2-17 (d) The following are not counted for purposes of
2-18 determining whether the student has previously earned the number of
2-19 semester credit hours specified by Subsection (a):
2-20 (1) semester credit hours earned by the student before
2-21 receiving a baccalaureate degree that has previously been awarded
2-22 to the student;
2-23 (2) semester credit hours earned by the student by
2-24 examination or under any other procedure by which credit is earned
2-25 without registering for a course for which tuition is charged;
2-26 (3) credit for a remedial education course, a
2-27 technical course, or another course that does not count toward a
3-1 degree program at the institution; and
3-2 (4) semester credit hours earned by the student at a
3-3 private institution or an out-of-state institution.
3-4 (e) Subsection (a) does not apply to funding for semester
3-5 credit hours earned by a student who initially enrolled as an
3-6 undergraduate student in any institution of higher education before
3-7 the 1999 fall semester. In the formulas established under Section
3-8 61.059, the board shall include funding for those semester credit
3-9 hours without consideration of Subsection (a).
3-10 SECTION 2. Section 54.068, Education Code, is amended to
3-11 read as follows:
3-12 Sec. 54.068. TUITION FOR EXCESSIVE UNDERGRADUATE HOURS. (a)
3-13 An institution of higher education may charge a resident student
3-14 tuition at a higher rate than the rate charged to other resident
3-15 students, not to exceed the rate charged to nonresident students,
3-16 for a course for which Section 61.0595 requires the Texas Higher
3-17 Education Coordinating Board [coordinating board] to exclude
3-18 funding for the semester credit hours for which the student
3-19 registers [if the student has previously attempted 170 or more
3-20 semester credit hours].
3-21 (b) In its appropriations to institutions of higher
3-22 education, the legislature shall compute the local funds available
3-23 to each institution as if the additional amount of tuition
3-24 collected under Subsection (a) [this section] were not collected.
3-25 (c) For the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 academic years, this
3-26 section does not apply to the tuition charged to a student who
3-27 initially enrolled as an undergraduate student in an institution of
4-1 higher education before the 1999 fall semester. This subsection
4-2 expires January 1, 2002.
4-3 (d) For the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 academic years, an
4-4 institution may charge a student tuition at a higher rate than the
4-5 rate charged to other resident students under Subsection (a) only
4-6 if the semester credit hours for which the student registers would
4-7 have been excluded from the coordinating board's funding
4-8 recommendations for those academic years under Section 61.0595, if
4-9 Section 61.0595 had been in effect as amended by the legislature in
4-10 1999 when the coordinating board made its funding recommendations
4-11 for those academic years. This subsection expires January 1, 2002.
4-12 (e) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), appropriations to
4-13 institutions of higher education for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001
4-14 state fiscal years may not include funding for enrollment growth
4-15 attributable to semester credit hours to be earned in the 1999-2000
4-16 and 2000-2001 academic years by resident students who are charged
4-17 the resident tuition rate for those hours but who would have been
4-18 subject to tuition for those hours at a higher rate than the rate
4-19 charged to other resident students, as permitted by this section,
4-20 if this section as it existed on January 1, 1999, were applicable
4-21 to those academic years. This subsection expires January 1, 2002.
4-22 SECTION 3. (a) The change in law made by this Act to
4-23 Section 61.0595, Education Code, applies beginning with the funding
4-24 recommendations made under Section 61.059, Education Code, for the
4-25 2001-2002 academic year.
4-26 (b) Section 54.068, Education Code, as amended by this Act,
4-27 applies beginning with tuition charged for the 1999 fall semester
5-1 as provided by Section 3.02, Chapter 1073, Acts of the 75th
5-2 Legislature, Regular Session, 1997.
5-3 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-8 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-9 passage, and it is so enacted.