SB 1210 Conditions on the Receipt of Tuition and Fee Exemptions and Waivers at Public Institutions of Higher Education
SB 1210 requires a student, after initially qualifying for a mandatory or discretionary exemption or waiver from the payment of tuition or other fees for enrollment at an institution of higher education, to meet certain satisfactory academic progress requirements in order to continue receipt. Graduate and undergraduate students must maintain a grade point average consistent with the institution’s policy for making academic progress toward a degree or certificate in accordance with the institution’s policy for financial aid.
In addition, undergraduate students must not have accumulated, as of the beginning of the semester or term, a number of semester credit hours considered to be excessive unless permitted by the institution’s hardship policies. In determining excessive hours, transfer credit hours shall be counted toward the student’s record but must exclude hours earned exclusively by examination, dual credit hours, and hours earned for developmental education coursework. A student is not eligible for an exemption or waiver for the next semester or term if the progress requirements are not met. A student may, however, become eligible to receive an exemption or waiver in a subsequent semester or term if the student completes a semester or term during which the person is not eligible and meets the satisfactory academic progress requirements. Institutions must implement hardship policies that may exempt students from the progress requirement provisions established through this legislation.
The provisions in SB 1210 do not apply to waivers provided to high school students enrolled in courses for concurrent high school and college-level credit, to specific Hazlewood Act recipients such as spouses or children of veterans who are killed in action, missing in action, or whose deaths were the result of a service-related injury or illness, to prisoners of war, and to students under the conservatorship of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. SB 1210 provisions also do not apply to any provision in the code that allows the payment of resident tuition or fees by persons who are not residents of Texas. The provisions of the legislation apply to exemptions and waivers awarded beginning with the 2014 fall semester.