BILL ANALYSIS
By: McClendon
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Currently, Texas higher education institutions award fewer baccalaureate degrees, relative to the number of students enrolled, than both the national average and many of the most populous states.
Although more than 400,000 Texans attend community colleges or technical institutes, fewer than one-third of these students will transfer to a four-year public college or university in Texas. This is unfortunate because statistics show that students transferring from community or technical institutions perform as well academically or better than students who began at a four-year institution.
House Bill 64 establishes an incentive for community college and technical institute graduates to attend a four-year institution by requiring that general academic teaching institutions admit any applicant who has previously been awarded a degree or certificate from a community college or technical institute in Texas.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 3 of this bill.
ANALYSIS
SECTION 1 - Amends Section 51.801, Education Code, to include public junior college, and public technical institute in the definition.
SECTION 2 - Amends Subchapter U, Chapter 51, Education Code by adding Section 51.8065, to require that each general academic institution will admit an applicant as an undergraduate transfer student if the applicant has received a degree or certificate from a public junior college or public technical institute.
The degree or certificate program must have at least 42 semester credit hours in the core curriculum. The applicant must have completed the degree or certificate with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.00 out of four-point scale. The applicant must apply according to the admissions timelines established by the institution.
The institution may review an admitted student's record or other appropriate factors in determining if the student will require additional assistance or preparation for college-level work. The institution may require that an entering student attend academic enrichment or orientation programs in the summer after admission. Students who do not require additional assistance may enroll in classes during the summer.
Admission is contingent on the availability of space within the institution for the additional students. Entry into a specific academic program within the intuition is solely determined by the requirements of the institution.
This admissions requirement does not apply to institutions which only offer junior-level and senior-level, and/or graduate level courses, or institutions which have already filled at least 50 percent of the available spaces through automatic admissions as required by this section.
SECTION 3 - The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and governing board of each general academic teaching institution will adopt rules to or policies related to the admission of students under Section 51.8065 by February 1, 2006.
SECTION 4 - Effective date.
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2005, and applies beginning with admissions for the 2006 fall semester.