Bill Text: TX SB166 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill 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.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [SB166 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-SB166-Introduced.html

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89R2715 JTZ-F
By: Menéndez S.B. No. 166

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2025.