Honorable Dan Branch, Chair, House Committee on Higher Education
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1409 by Wu (relating to the granting of undergraduate course credit by examination or assessment at public institutions of higher education; authorizing a fee.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill requires each institution of higher education to develop and, at least once during each academic year, administer one or more institution-specific examinations or assessments by which entering or current undergraduate students may earn freshman-level or sophomore-level course credit. Under provisions of the bill, the institution may charge a reasonable fee for taking the examination or assessment. The institution would develop and administer examinations or assessments for as many courses as practicable and report to the Higher Education Coordinating Board a list of courses for which examinations can be taken for credit, and the institution's adopted policy. This information along with student application materials must be available on the institution's internet website in a manner that conforms to Section 51.974 of the Education Code. The change in law would apply beginning with the 2014-2015 academic year. For purposes of this fiscal note it is assumed that institutional costs associated with implementing the new examinations would be covered by the fee charged to the student. Therefore costs associated with the bill are not considered significant.
Local Government Impact
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 720 The University of Texas System Administration, 768 Texas Tech University System Administration, 769 University of North Texas System Administration, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board, 783 University of Houston System Administration