Bill Text: TX HB29 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to requiring certain general academic teaching institutions to offer a fixed tuition price plan to undergraduate students.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 8-5)
Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective immediately [HB29 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HB29-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Relating to requiring certain general academic teaching institutions to offer a fixed tuition price plan to undergraduate students.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 8-5)
Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective immediately [HB29 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HB29-Comm_Sub.html
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 |
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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. |