Amend CSHB 7 by adding an appropriately numbered new SECTION
to the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS accordingly, to
read as follows:
SECTION ____. Section 54.0513, Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, Iin
addition to amounts that a governing board of an institution of
higher education is authorized to charge as tuition under the other
provisions of this chapter, the governing board, under the terms
the governing board considers appropriate, may charge any student
an amount designated as tuition that the governing board considers
necessary for the effective operation of the institution.
(b) A governing board may set a different tuition rate for
each program and course level offered by each institution of higher
education. A governing board may set a different tuition rate as
the governing board considers appropriate to increase graduation
rates, encourage efficient use of facilities, or enhance employee
performance.
(c) The maximum amount of tuition that may be charged under
this section to a resident or nonresident student is the average
amount of tuition charged to a full-time student of comparable
residency status enrolled for a comparable semester or term of the
preceding academic year at the peer institutions listed in
Subsection (d), adjusted to reflect any change in the consumer
price index for all urban consumers, for all items and all regions
of the United States, as published by the United States Department
of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, or a successor national index
of the change in consumer prices, for the most recent year for which
the index is available. The maximum amount of tuition is determined
by weighting the tuition charged by each peer institution equally,
without weighting by student enrollment.
(d) The peer institutions to be used in computing the
maximum amount of tuition under this section are:
(1) the University of California at Berkeley;
(2) the University of California at Los Angeles;
(3) the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;
(4) Indiana University at Bloomington;
(5) the University of Michigan -- Ann Arbor;
(6) Michigan State University;
(7) the University of Minnesota;
(8) the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;
(9) Ohio State University, Main Campus;
(10) the University of Washington; and
(11) the University of Wisconsin -- Madison.
(e) The coordinating board shall determine the maximum
amount of tuition that may be charged to a resident or nonresident
student under this section for each semester or term and report
those amounts to the governing board of each institution of higher
education to which this section applies as early as practicable
before the semester or term begins. The coordinating board may
require the governing board of an institution to which this section
applies to obtain for the coordinating board any information the
coordinating board requires to administer this section.
(c) (f) Amounts collected by an institution of higher
education under this section are institutional funds as defined by
Section 51.009 of this code and shall be accounted for as designated
funds. These funds shall not be accounted for in a general
appropriations act in such a way as to reduce the general revenue
appropriation to a particular institution.
(d) (g) A governing board may waive all or part of the
tuition charged to a student under this section if it finds that the
payment of such tuition would cause an undue economic hardship on
the student.
(e) (h) Section 56.033 of this code requiring certain
percentage amounts of tuition to be set aside for grants and
scholarships does not apply to tuition collected under this
section.
(f) (i) A governing board of an institution of higher
education may continue to charge as tuition under this section the
amount that it charged as the building use fee at that institution
in the 1996-1997 academic year without holding a public hearing,
but may not increase tuition under this section above that amount
without holding a public hearing.