79R2668 KSD-D
By: Branch H.B. No. 1046
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the automatic admission of undergraduate students to
general academic teaching institutions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 51.803, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(a) Subject to Subsection (c), each [Each] general academic
teaching institution shall admit an applicant for admission to the
institution as an undergraduate student if the applicant graduated
with a grade point average in the top 10 percent of the student's
high school graduating class in one of the two school years
preceding the academic year for which the applicant is applying for
admission and the applicant graduated from a public or private high
school in this state accredited by a generally recognized
accrediting organization or from a high school operated by the
United States Department of Defense. To qualify for admission
under this section, an applicant must submit an application before
the expiration of any application filing deadline established by
the institution and, if the applicant graduated from a high school
operated by the United States Department of Defense, must be a Texas
resident under Section 54.052 or be entitled to pay tuition fees at
the rate provided for Texas residents under Section 54.058(d) for
the term or semester to which admitted.
(c) A general academic teaching institution shall reserve
for admissions under Subsection (a) not less than 50 percent of the
institution's enrollment capacity designated for first-time
undergraduate students. If the number of applicants who qualify
for automatic admission to a general academic teaching institution
under Subsection (a) exceeds the number of spaces reserved by the
institution for admissions under Subsection (a), the institution
shall offer admission to those applicants by percentile rank
according to graduating class standing based on grade point
average, beginning with the top percentile rank, until a sufficient
number of applicants have accepted admission offers to fill those
spaces, except that the institution must offer admission to all
applicants with the same percentile rank. The institution shall
consider any remaining applicants qualified for automatic
admission under Subsection (a) in the same manner as other
applicants for admission as first-time freshman students in
accordance with Section 51.805.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies
beginning with admissions to institutions of higher education for
the 2006-2007 academic year. Admissions to an institution of
higher education before that academic year are covered by the law in
effect before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.