LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 78TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

May 23, 2003

TO:	Honorable Florence Shapiro, Chair, Senate Committee on Education
FROM:	John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB1621 by Flores (Relating to authorizing a public junior college to waive a portion of the tuition and fees for a student enrolled in a course for joint high school-junior college credit.), Committee Report 2nd House, As Amended

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would give community colleges flexibility in waiving all or part of tuition and fees for courses offered jointly for high school and college credit (commonly referred to as dual credit), and clarify that tuition and fees (currently "tuition fee") are eligible for waiver.

The bill, as amended, increases the amount of tuition that can be pledged to the payment of bonds issued by community college districts from $15 per student per semester to 25 percent of the tuition collected from each student.

Because tuition and fees at community colleges are not appropriated, there would be no fiscal impact to the state.

Local Government Impact

The fiscal impact on local governments would vary to the extent community college districts take advantage of the provisions of the bill. Currently, some colleges do waive all of tuition for joint high school-community college credit courses, while others do not.  Community college districts will have increased revenue amounts to be pledged for bond issues. 

Source Agencies:

781 Higher Education Coordinating Board

LBB Staff:

JK, CT, PF, DSB