|
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to the allocation of funds remaining in the B-On-Time |
|
student loan account following the abolition of that account. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. Section 56.0092, Education Code, is amended to |
|
read as follows: |
|
(a) The Texas B-On-time student loan account previously |
|
established by former Section 56.463 continues as an account in the |
|
general revenue fund. The account consists of: |
|
(1) gifts and grants; |
|
(2) any legislative appropriations received for the |
|
purpose of awarding Texas B-On-time student loans to students who |
|
qualify and establish eligibility for the loans as described by |
|
Subsection (c), for Subsection (e), and for discharging any other |
|
remaining obligations under the former Texas B-On-time student loan |
|
program; |
|
(3) tuition set aside under Section 56.465, as that |
|
section existed immediately before September 1, 2015, for a |
|
semester or term occurring before the 2015 fall semester; |
|
(4) bond proceeds deposited under Section 52.91(a); |
|
and |
|
(5) any other money in the account on September 1, |
|
2015. |
|
(b) Money in the Texas B-On-time student loan account may be |
|
used only to pay any costs of the coordinating board related to |
|
loans awarded under the Texas B-On-time student loan program as |
|
provided by Subsection (c) for a semester or term occurring before |
|
the 2020 fall semester or for purposes of Subsection (e). |
|
(c) Beginning with the 2015 fall semester, the coordinating |
|
board may not award an initial Texas B-On-time student loan under |
|
the Texas B-On-time student loan program. The coordinating board |
|
may award, for a semester or term occurring before the 2020 fall |
|
semester, a subsequent Texas B-On-time student loan to an eligible |
|
student who received an initial Texas B-On-time student loan before |
|
the 2015-2016 academic year. For Texas B-On-time student loans to |
|
be awarded as described by this subsection: |
|
(1) students may qualify and establish continued |
|
eligibility, as applicable, under Subchapter Q as that subchapter |
|
existed immediately before September 1, 2015; and |
|
(2) the coordinating board may make loans using any |
|
money available for the purposes of the former Texas B-On-time |
|
student loan program. |
|
(d) On September 1, 20210, the Texas B-On-time student loan |
|
account is abolished, and any remaining money in the account may be |
|
appropriated only to eligible institutions in the manner provided |
|
by Subsection (e). |
|
(e) An appropriation under Subsection (d) must be made in |
|
accordance with a performance-based methodology that allocates |
|
funding among eligible institutions based on a three-year average |
|
of the number of bachelor's degrees conferred on at-risk student. |
|
formula, adopted by coordinating board rule, that the coordinating
|
|
board determines fairly allocates the appropriated amount to those
|
|
eligible institutions at which the Texas B-On-time student loan
|
|
program was underutilized. For purposes of this subsection
|
|
, the
|
|
Texas B-On-time student loan program is considered to have been
|
|
underutilized by students of an institution in any period if the
|
|
institution's percentage of the total amount of tuition set aside
|
|
by all institutions under the program during the period was greater
|
|
than the institution's percentage of all students who received a
|
|
Texas B-On-time student loan under the program for the same period.
|
|
The coordinating board shall base the coordinating board's
|
|
determination on a period of academic years occurring before the
|
|
2015-2016 academic year that the coordinating board considers
|
|
representative of eligible institutions' student participation in
|
|
the Texas B-On-time student loan program.
|
|
(f) In this section, "eligible institution" means a general |
|
academic teaching institution described by Section 56.451(2)(A) or |
|
a medical and dental unit described by Section 56.451(2)(B), as |
|
those paragraphs existed immediately before September 1, 2015. |
|
(g) In this section, "at-risk student" means an |
|
undergraduate student of an institution of higher education: |
|
(1) whose score on the Scholastic Assessment Test |
|
(SAT) or the American College Test (ACT), excluding the optional |
|
essay component, is less than the national mean score of students' |
|
scores on that test; or |
|
(2) who has previously received a grant under the |
|
federal Pell Grant program or met the Expected Family Contribution |
|
(EFC) criterion for a grant under that program. |
|
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, 2019. |