Highlights 77th Texas Legislature - Senate

______________________
EDUCATION/Higher
77 th Texas Legislature
Various Bills Addressing Tuition and Fees at Public Institutions of Higher Education
H.B. 2531 (Junell/Bivins) increases the current tuition of $40 per semester credit hour by $2 each year until
2005-2006, when tuition will be $50 per semester credit hour, and S.B. 1814 (Ellis/Rangel) allows a board
of regents to set graduate or professional pharmacy program tuition at an amount up to three times that in
H.B. 2531.
Each fee bill allows regents to adopt fee increases and usually requires student elections to approve the
proposals and provides a maximum fee. Fees may be increased from year to year if approved by a student
vote. Several bills include language that requires a vote of registered students in an election called for the
purpose before increasing a fee more than 10 percent, but an election is also required to increase the fee
by less than 10 percent.
Two bills (H.B. 120 by West/Duncan and S.B. 628 by Staples/Berman) institute intercollegiate athletics fees
at The University of Texas System components. The regents may impose a $7 per semester credit hour
($84 per 12-hour semester) at UT Tyler and $5 per semester credit hour ($60) at UT Permian Basin.
Neither fee is included in determining the maximum fee restrictions.
Three bills (H.B. 462 by Crownover/Haywood, H.B. 467 by Solomons/Nelson, and S.B. 462 by
Duncan/Delwin Jones) allow increases in student medical services fees. Regents at Texas Woman’s
University may increase fees from $30 per semester to a maximum of $55. Regents of the University of
North Texas system may increase its medical services fee from $25 to $75 per semester at each
component institution, though the fee is limited to $30 for the 2001-2002 academic year unless approved by
a student election and may not be included in determining the maximum fee cap. Texas Tech regents may
raise the medical services fee from $55 to $100, though increases of more than 10 percent must be
approved by a student election.
H.B. 2575 by Representative Goolsby and Senator Shapiro raises the fee cap for all IHEs outside the UT
system or University of Houston system from $150 to $250 per year, but, if the total compulsory fee
exceeds $150, an increase must be approved by a student election. In subsequent years, an increase of
more than 10 percent must be approved by a student vote.
The Texas A&M University System (TAMU) board of regents will have the opportunity to increase its
maximum student center complex fee from $40 to $100 per semester (H.B. 1024 by Brown/Ogden) and the
recreational sports fees at component institutions from $50 to a maximum of $100 per semester (H.B. 1023
byBrown/Ogden). Both bills require approval in a student election before any increase becomes effective,
but the recreational sports fee will not be included in calculating the maximum fee cap. UT Tyler students
may pay both the aforementioned intercollegiate athletics fee as well as a new recreational facility fee (S.B.
628 by Staples/Berman) of $40 per regular semester. The fee is in addition to any other fee and not
included in calculating the maximum fee cap.
S.B. 1472 (Ogden/Williams) will allow each IHE to increase its required property deposit from $10 to an
amount up to $100 from which deductions to cover losses, damage, and breakage in libraries and
laboratories will be made.
Senate Research Center 88