BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.B. 529
AUTHOR'S/SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Current Texas law does not allow the governing board of a public junior college to recover lost state contact hour funding for students taking a course three or more times. Additionally, public junior colleges are not allowed to charge students additional fees or tuition to make up for this loss of state contact hour funding.
S.B. 529 allows the governing board of a public junior college to charge additional tuition or fees to students repeating a course two or more times, thereby allowing public junior colleges to recover the lost state contact hour funding. It also places community colleges in parity with universities, which are able to recover contact hour funding from students repeating courses.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 130, Education Code, by adding Section 130.0034, as follows:
Sec. 130.0034. TUITION FOR REPEATED COURSES. (a) Authorizes the governing board of a public junior college district to charge a student a higher rate of tuition than would be otherwise charged for a course, if the student has previously enrolled in the same course or a course of substantially the same content and level two or more times after the 2003-2004 academic year.
(b) Provides that this section does not apply to a non-degree-credit developmental course.
(c) Prohibits the total amount of tuition charged to a student for the repeated course from exceeding the full cost of instruction for the course with respect to the student.
SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2005.