Bill Text: TX SB3039 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the transfer of students in public higher education and to transparency regarding certificate or degree program requirements.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-2)

Status: (Passed) 2025-06-20 - Effective on 9/1/25 [SB3039 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-SB3039-Enrolled.html

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S.B. No. 3039

AN ACT
relating to the transfer of students in public higher education and
to transparency regarding certificate or degree program
requirements.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 51.4033 and 51.4034, Education Code,
are amended to read as follows:
Sec. 51.4033. TRANSFER REPORT [OF NONTRANSFERABLE CREDIT].
(a) Not later than May 1 of each year and in the form prescribed by
the coordinating board, each general academic teaching institution
shall provide to the coordinating board and the legislature a
report that:
(1) describes [describing] any courses in the
Lower-Division Academic Course Guide Manual or its successor
adopted by the coordinating board for which a student who transfers
to the institution from another institution of higher education is
not granted:
(A) [(1)] academic credit at the receiving
institution; or
(B) [(2)] if the student has declared a major and
has not changed majors, academic credit toward the student's major
at the receiving institution;
(2) details the institution's goals to increase the
number, success, and persistence, as measured by the coordinating
board, of students who transfer to the institution from a public
junior college;
(3) assesses the institution's academic and technical
transfer pathways;
(4) identifies:
(A) any existing barriers to transferring to the
institution; and
(B) emerging issues affecting transfer students
at the institution;
(5) details the institution's actions to serve current
and prospective transfer students through local and regional
articulation agreements that include:
(A) faculty collaboration;
(B) public junior college program enhancements;
(C) student outreach and advising services;
(D) website information development;
(E) targeted financial aid;
(F) student success programs; and
(G) degree program alignment; and
(6) contains any other information relating to the
transfer of academic credit to the institution required by
coordinating board rule.
(b) A report required by this section must indicate for each
course described by Subsection (a)(1):
(1) the course name, [and] type, and common course
number;
(2) the name of:
(A) the institution of higher education or other
postsecondary educational institution at which the student
completed the course; and
(B) the [which] institution of higher education
that awarded or transcribed [provided] academic credit for the
course; and
(3) the reason why the receiving institution did not
grant academic credit for the course as described by Subsection
(a), including whether the institution complied with the dispute
resolution process under Section 61.826.
(c) Not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year,
the coordinating board shall submit to the governor, the
Legislative Budget Board, the house appropriations committee, and
the senate finance committee a report that evaluates actions to
increase the number, success, and persistence of students who
transfer to a general academic teaching institution from a public
junior college. The report must include:
(1) a comparative analysis of institution reports and
performance data, including application and admission rates,
financial aid awarded, time-to-degree, and baccalaureate
graduation rates of students, including transfer students, by
program completion at public junior colleges and general academic
teaching institutions during the preceding academic year;
(2) a study of public junior college transfer
practices; and
(3) recommendations for legislative or other action to
meet the transfer student-related goals of the state's master plan
for higher education developed under Section 61.051.
(d) The coordinating board may adopt rules necessary to
implement this section.
Sec. 51.4034. REPORT OF COURSES TAKEN AT PUBLIC JUNIOR
COLLEGES. (a) Not later than May 1 of each year and in the form
prescribed by the coordinating board, each public junior college
shall provide to the coordinating board and the legislature a
report on courses taken by students who, during the preceding
academic year, transferred to a general academic teaching
institution, completed a field of study curriculum, or earned an
associate degree at the college.
(b) A report required by this section must include:
(1) the total number of:
(A) [(1)] courses attempted and completed at the
college, including the total number of semester credit hours for
those courses, disaggregated by whether the course is in:
(i) [(A)] the Workforce Education Course
Manual or its successor adopted by the coordinating board; or
(ii) [(B)] the Lower-Division Academic
Course Guide Manual or its successor adopted by the coordinating
board;
(B) [(2)] courses attempted and completed at the
college that are not in the recommended core curriculum developed
by the coordinating board under Section 61.822; and
(C) [(3)] dual credit courses, including courses
for joint high school and junior college credit under Section
130.008, attempted and completed at the college; and
(2) any other relevant information required by
coordinating board rule.
(c) The coordinating board may adopt rules necessary to
implement this section.
SECTION 2. Subchapter H, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.4035 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.4035. PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION REGARDING DENIAL
OF TRANSFER CREDIT. (a) Each institution of higher education shall
maintain on the admissions page of the institution's Internet
website a list of:
(1) the five majors or degree or certificate programs
offered by the institution with the highest number of courses for
which academic credit is denied or not applied toward the major or
program; and
(2) the five courses for each major or degree or
certificate program described by Subdivision (1) for which academic
credit is most frequently denied because the credit is not
applicable toward the major or program.
(b) The coordinating board annually shall provide to each
institution of higher education a list of the courses described by
Subsection (a)(2).
(c) The coordinating board may adopt rules necessary to
implement this section.
SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 61.07771 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.07771. TRANSPARENCY IN CERTIFICATE AND DEGREE
PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS. (a) The board, in consultation with
institutions of higher education, shall adopt rules requiring
institutions of higher education to provide transparency in
certificate and degree program requirements for students enrolling
at or transferring to the institution.
(b) The rules must require each institution of higher
education to:
(1) ensure that the requirements for each certificate
or degree program offered by the institution:
(A) are current, accessible to students enrolled
at the institution and members of the public through the following
sources, as applicable, and uniform at each of the following
sources:
(i) the institution's internal Internet
website for students;
(ii) the institution's Internet website;
and
(iii) the Internet website of the
department at the institution that offers the certificate or degree
program; and
(B) state:
(i) the prerequisites for each course
required as part of the certificate or degree program; and
(ii) any non-course requirements for the
certificate or degree program and, if the institution offers
different tracks for completing the program, those requirements for
each track; and
(2) post on the institution's Internet website the
minimum requirements to be accepted as a transfer student at the
institution.
SECTION 4. Subchapter S, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 61.8231 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.8231. TRANSFER LIAISON. (a) Each institution of
higher education, using existing resources, shall designate at
least one employee of the institution to serve as a single point of
contact for other institutions of higher education and the board
regarding transfer issues and to act as a liaison officer for
current or incoming students at the institution who will transfer
into or out of the institution.
(b) On a transfer or request to transfer to or from an
institution of higher education, the institution's transfer
liaison shall provide a current, former, or prospective student, as
applicable, with:
(1) a complete and current list of the institution's
core curriculum applicable to the student;
(2) a complete and current list of the institution's
field of study curricula that may be applicable to the student;
(3) for a receiving institution, a list of courses
completed by the student:
(A) for which the institution will accept
academic credit; and
(B) for which the institution proposes to deny
academic credit in accordance with Section 61.826, including the
procedures for credit transfer dispute required by that section;
and
(4) any other information required by board rule.
(c) On the admission of a transfer student, the receiving
institution of higher education's transfer liaison shall assist the
student in obtaining a degree audit to determine whether the
student's completed coursework satisfies the institution's core
curriculum, satisfies a field of study curriculum of the
institution, or qualifies the student to be awarded a Texas Direct
associate degree under Section 61.834 or any other degree or
certificate offered by the institution.
(d) The board shall adopt rules necessary to implement this
section.
SECTION 5. (a) Not later than January 1, 2026, the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt the rules required
by Section 61.07771, Education Code, as added by this Act.
(b) A public institution of higher education shall comply
with the rules adopted under Subsection (a) of this section
beginning with the 2026-2027 academic year.
SECTION 6. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026
academic year.
SECTION 7. 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, 2025.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 3039 passed the Senate on
May 6, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that the
Senate concurred in House amendments on May 30, 2025, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 3039 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 28, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 77,
Nays 60, four present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor