BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center C.S.S.B. 1394
By: Zaffirini
Committee Report (Substituted)
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Oftentimes, students who are denied admittance to well-known university programs are not aware of other, lesser-known academic programs at other universities and therefore do not apply to other universities or choose to study a subject other than the subject they are most suited to in order to attend the more well-known university.
The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) has implemented a program that addresses this problem. The Coordinated Admissions Program at UT serves undergraduate applicants who are denied admission to UT-Austin by allowing them to attend another UT System institution for their freshman year. Upon successful completion of their freshman year, the students are guaranteed admission to UT-Austin the following year.
C.S.S.B. 1394 creates a system that allows students to apply to more than one Texas public university.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 1 (Section 51.7635, Education Code) of this bill.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter S, Chapter 51, Education Code, by adding Section 51.7635, as follows:
Sec. 51.7635. NOTIFICATION REGARDING DEGREE PROGRAMS OFFERED BY OTHER INSTITUTIONS IN APPLICANT’S PREFERRED MAJOR FIELD. (a) Requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) by rule to require that each applicant for admission to a general academic teaching institution who designates on the applicant’s ApplyTexas online admission application form or other electronic application form applicable to all general academic teaching institutions one or more choices or preferences for the applicant’s major field of study be promptly redirected by the application website to a notification regarding the availability of degree programs in that field of study offered by general academic teaching institutions.
(b) Requires that the notification required by Subsection (a) include a list of those general academic teaching institutions offering comparable degree programs in the applicant’s designated field of study, and provide certain information, or electronic links to certain information, for each institution.
(c) Requires the institution to include in its notice of denial a link to detailed information available on the application website regarding the availability of degree programs in that field of study offered by other general academic teaching institutions, in addition to providing the notification required by Subsection (a), if a general academic teaching institution denies admission to any applicant who designated one or more choices or preferences for the applicant ’s major field of study on the applicant’s admission application form described by Subsection (a).
SECTION 2. Provides that Section 51.7635, Education Code, as added by this Act, applies beginning with applicants for admission to a general academic teaching institution for the 2011-2012 academic year.
SECTION 3. Requires THECB to adopt the rules required by Section 51.7635, Education Code, as added by this Act, as soon as practicable after this Act takes effect. Authorizes THECB, for that purpose, to adopt the initial rules in the manner provided by law for emergency rules.
SECTION 4. Provides that this Act does not make an appropriation. Provides that a provision in this Act that creates a new governmental program, creates a new entitlement, or imposes a new duty on a governmental entity is not mandatory during a fiscal period for which the legislature has not made a specific appropriation to implement the provision.
SECTION 5. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2009.