TITLE: 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.

SUMMARY: 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.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT 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. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Sections 54.366(a) and (c), Education Code, are amended to read as follows: (a) A student is exempt from the payment of tuition and fees authorized in this chapter, 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 may earn joint high school and college credit, if the student [: [(1)] was under the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services: (1) [(A)] on the day preceding the student's 18th birthday; (2) [(B)] on or after the day of the student's 14th birthday, if the student was also eligible for adoption on or after that day; (3) [(C)] on the day the student graduated from high school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma; (4) [(D)] on the day preceding: (A) [(i)] the date the student is adopted, if that date is on or after September 1, 2009; or (B) [(ii)] the date permanent managing conservatorship of the student is awarded to a person other than the student's parent, if that date is on or after September 1, 2009; or (5) [(E)] during an academic term in which the student was enrolled in a dual credit course or other course for which a high school student may earn joint high school and college credit [; and [(2) enrolls 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 may earn joint high school and college credit not later than the student's 25th birthday].(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a) [(a)(1)],a child who exits the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services and is returned to the child's parent, including a parent whose parental rights were previously terminated, may be exempt from the payment of tuition and fees if the department determines that the child is eligible under department rule. The executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall by rule develop factors for determining eligibility under this subsection in consultation with the department and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act to Section 54.366, Education Code, apply beginning with tuition and fees charged for the 2025 fall semester. 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. 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.