83R14089 KSD-F

By: Branch, Alvarado, et al. H.B. No. 29

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 29:

By: Branch C.S.H.B. No. 29

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to requiring certain general academic teaching institutions to offer a four-year fixed tuition price plan to undergraduate students.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 54, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 54.017 to read as follows:

Sec. 54.017. FOUR-YEAR FIXED TUITION PRICE PLAN FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT CERTAIN GENERAL ACADEMIC TEACHING INSTITUTIONS. (a) In this section:

(1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

(2) "General academic teaching institution" and "public state college" have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.

(3) "Plan" means a four-year fixed tuition price plan offered under this section.

(b) This section applies only to a general academic teaching institution other than a public state college.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter and except as otherwise provided by this section, the governing board of an institution to which this section applies shall offer each entering undergraduate student, including each undergraduate student who transfers to the institution regardless of the number of semester credit hours transferred by the student, the opportunity to participate in a four-year fixed tuition price plan.

(d) Unless the institution does not offer other tuition payment options, an institution to which this section applies shall require an entering undergraduate student to accept or reject participation in the plan before the date of the student's initial enrollment at the institution.

(e) A plan offered under this section must provide that:

(1) during the four academic years immediately following the date of a student's initial enrollment at the institution, the institution may not charge tuition to the student for a semester or other academic term at a rate that exceeds the rate the institution would have charged the student for the same courses during:

(A) the first academic year in which the student enrolled at the institution, if the student initially enrolled for a fall or spring semester; or

(B) the academic year immediately following the summer term in which the student enrolled at the institution, if the student initially enrolled for a summer term; and

(2) beginning with the fifth academic year following the date the student first enrolls at the institution, the institution may not charge tuition to the student for a semester or other academic term at a rate that exceeds the rate the institution would have charged the student under Subdivision (1) had the student initially enrolled in the institution one year after the student's actual initial enrollment.

(f) A fixed tuition price charged to a student by an institution under Subsection (e) does not apply to the student after the student has been awarded a baccalaureate degree by the institution.

(g) Each institution to which this section applies shall notify each entering undergraduate student, including each undergraduate student who transfers to the institution, of the plan offered under this section.

(h) Fees charged by an institution to a student participating in a plan under this section may not exceed the fees charged by the institution to a similarly situated student who elects not to participate in the plan, if the institution offers other tuition payment options. For purposes of this subsection, students are similarly situated if they share the same residency status, degree program, course load, course level, and other circumstances affecting the fees charged to the students.

(i) Each institution to which this section applies shall adopt any rules the institution considers appropriate for the administration of the institution's plan under this section.

(j) This section does not require an institution to which this section applies to offer a variable tuition price plan to undergraduate students enrolled in the institution.

(k) This section does not apply to the tuition charged by an institution to which this section applies to a student who enters the institution for the first time before the 2014 fall semester. This subsection expires January 1, 2020.

SECTION 2. 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, 2013.