|
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to the academic costs charged to resident undergraduate |
|
students by general academic teaching institutions and to certain |
|
reports regarding certain costs of those institutions. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 54, Education Code, is |
|
amended by adding Section 54.016 to read as follows: |
|
Sec. 54.016. LIMITATION ON INCREASE IN TOTAL ACADEMIC COSTS |
|
CHARGED TO RESIDENT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. (a) In this section: |
|
(1) "General academic teaching institution" has the |
|
meaning assigned by Section 61.003. |
|
(2) "Core operational costs" means those costs as |
|
estimated by the Legislative Budget Board under Section 51.973. |
|
(3) "Total academic costs": |
|
(A) includes: |
|
(i) tuition for which the rates are |
|
prescribed by this chapter; |
|
(ii) tuition charged by a general academic |
|
teaching institution under Section 54.0513 or another law |
|
authorizing a general academic teaching institution to establish |
|
tuition rates; |
|
(iii) mandatory academic fees; and |
|
(iv) any other academic-related general |
|
fees and college course fees, including fees for laboratories, |
|
field trips, access to Internet or multimedia service, equipment |
|
replacement, and instructional technology; and |
|
(B) does not include optional fees charged to a |
|
student for voluntary services or a fee approved by students of the |
|
institution in a referendum held at the institution for that |
|
purpose. |
|
(b) This subsection applies to total academic costs charged |
|
to students for the 2010-2011, 2011-2012, and 2012-2013 academic |
|
years by a general academic teaching institution. In an academic |
|
year to which this subsection applies, the total academic costs |
|
charged by a general academic teaching institution to an |
|
undergraduate student who is a resident of this state may not exceed |
|
the total academic costs that the institution would have charged to |
|
a similarly situated student in the preceding academic year by more |
|
than the greater of: |
|
(1) 3.95 percent; or |
|
(2) $280. |
|
(c) For purposes of this section, students are similarly |
|
situated if they share the same residency status, degree program, |
|
course load, course level, tuition exemption status, and other |
|
circumstances affecting the total academic costs charged to the |
|
student. |
|
(d) This section does not ensure that the total academic |
|
costs charged to an individual student will not increase by more |
|
than the limitation prescribed by Subsection (b) based on a change |
|
in the student's residency status, degree program, course load, |
|
course level, tuition exemption status, or other circumstance |
|
affecting the total academic costs charged to the student. |
|
(e) This section expires September 1, 2013. |
|
SECTION 2. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is |
|
amended by adding Section 51.973 to read as follows: |
|
Sec. 51.973. BIENNIAL REPORT BY LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD |
|
REGARDING CERTAIN UNIVERSITY COSTS. (a) Not later than September |
|
1 of each even-numbered year, the Legislative Budget Board shall |
|
submit to the Senate Finance Committee, the House Appropriations |
|
Committee, and the standing committee of each house with primary |
|
jurisdiction over higher education: |
|
(1) for consideration by the members of those |
|
committees in determining the amount of general revenue |
|
appropriations to general academic teaching institutions and |
|
tuition rates at those institutions, the Legislative Budget Board's |
|
estimate of the core operational costs for the next state fiscal |
|
biennium for each general academic teaching institution, based on a |
|
methodology that: |
|
(A) projects for each year of the next biennium: |
|
(i) changes in student enrollment for each |
|
institution; and |
|
(ii) a rate of inflation; and |
|
(B) uses data from each institution's annual |
|
financial report regarding costs for instruction, academic |
|
support, institutional support, operations and maintenance of |
|
physical plants, and student services; and |
|
(2) a certified list of all general academic teaching |
|
institutions ranked according to the amount of total academic costs |
|
charged per student in the academic years covered by the current |
|
state fiscal biennium. |
|
(b) Beginning in 2013, the Legislative Budget Board shall |
|
submit with its estimate under Subsection (a)(1) a comparison of |
|
each institution's actual core operational costs for the preceding |
|
state fiscal biennium to the board's previous estimate of the |
|
institution's core operational costs for that biennium. |
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
|
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
|
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
|
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
|
Act takes effect September 1, 2009. |