BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	C.S.H.B. 1211
	By: Lujan et al. (Men�ndez)
	Education K-16
	5/25/2025
	Committee Report (Substituted)

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), on any given day, there are roughly 17,000 school-aged students in Texas schools who are in foster care. Under current law, students formerly in foster care who are eligible for a higher education tuition and fee exemption must take advantage of that exemption not later than their 25th birthday, but the author has informed the committee that, due to the difficulties many of these students face, it can take longer for them to use the exemption. In fact, TEA reports that only 33 percent of students formerly in foster care enroll in higher education within seven years of turning 18.

H.B. 1211 seeks to remove the deadline for certain students who were formerly in the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services to enroll in a public institution of higher education or applicable dual credit course in order to be eligible for a tuition and fee exemption.

(Original Author's/Sponsor's Statement of Intent)

C.S.H.B. 1211 amends current law relating to tuition and fee exemptions at public institutions of higher education for certain students who were under the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 54.366(a), Education Code, as follows:

(a) Provides that a student is exempt from the payment of tuition and fees authorized in Chapter 54 (Tuition and Fees), including tuition and fees charged by an institution of higher education for a dual credit course or other course for which a high school student is authorized to earn joint high school and college credit, if the student meets certain criteria, including enrolling in an institution of higher education as an undergraduate student or in a dual credit course or other course for which a high school student is authorized to earn joint high school and college credit not later than the student's 27th, rather than 25th, birthday.�

SECTION 2. Provides that the changes in law made by this Act to Section 54.366(a), Education Code, apply beginning with tuition and fees charged for the 2025 fall semester. Provides that tuition and fees charged for a term or semester before the 2025 fall semester are governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2025.