S.B. No. 1764
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to the dissemination of information regarding the cost of
  attending public and private institutions of higher education and
  regarding the availability of financial aid to assist in paying
  that cost.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 61.0777 to read as follows:
         Sec. 61.0777.  UNIFORM STANDARDS FOR PUBLICATION OF COST OF
  ATTENDANCE INFORMATION. (a)  The board shall prescribe uniform
  standards intended to ensure that information regarding the cost of
  attendance at institutions of higher education is available to the
  public in a manner that is consumer-friendly and readily
  understandable to prospective students and their families. In
  developing the standards, the board shall examine common and
  recommended practices regarding the publication of such
  information and shall solicit recommendations and comments from
  institutions of higher education and interested private or
  independent institutions of higher education.
         (b)  The uniform standards must:
               (1)  address all of the elements that constitute the
  total cost of attendance, including tuition and fees, room and
  board costs, book and supply costs, transportation costs, and other
  personal expenses; and
               (2)  prescribe model language to be used to describe
  each element of the cost of attendance.
         (c)  Each institution of higher education that offers an
  undergraduate degree or certificate program shall:
               (1)  prominently display on the institution's Internet
  website in accordance with the uniform standards prescribed under
  this section information regarding the cost of attendance at the
  institution by a full-time entering first-year student; and
               (2)  conform to the uniform standards in any electronic
  or printed materials intended to provide to prospective
  undergraduate students information regarding the cost of
  attendance at the institution.
         (d)  Each institution of higher education shall consider the
  uniform standards prescribed under this section when providing
  information to the public or to prospective students regarding the
  cost of attendance at the institution by nonresident students,
  graduate students, or students enrolled in professional programs.
         (e)  The board shall prescribe requirements for an
  institution of higher education to provide on the institution's
  Internet website consumer-friendly and readily understandable
  information regarding student financial aid opportunities. The
  required information must be provided in connection with the
  information displayed under Subsection (c)(1) and must include a
  link to the primary federal student financial aid Internet website
  intended to assist persons applying for student financial aid.
         (f)  The board shall provide on the board's Internet website
  a program or similar tool that will compute for a person accessing
  the website the estimated net cost of attendance for a full-time
  entering first-year student attending an institution of higher
  education. The board shall require each institution to provide the
  board with the information the board requires to administer this
  subsection.
         (g)  The board shall prescribe the initial standards and
  requirements under this section not later than January 1, 2010.
  Institutions of higher education shall comply with the standards
  and requirements not later than April l, 2010. This subsection
  expires January 1, 2011.
         (h)  The board shall encourage private or independent
  institutions of higher education approved under Subchapter F to
  participate in the tuition equalization grant program, to the
  greatest extent practicable, to prominently display the
  information described by Subsections (a) and (b) on their Internet
  websites in accordance with the standards established under those
  subsections, and to conform to those standards in electronic and
  printed materials intended to provide to prospective undergraduate
  students information regarding the cost of attendance at the
  institutions. The board shall also encourage those institutions to
  include on their Internet websites a link to the primary federal
  student financial aid Internet website intended to assist persons
  applying for student financial aid.
         (i)  The board shall make the program or tool described by
  Subsection (f) available to private or independent institutions of
  higher education described by Subsection (h), and those
  institutions shall make that program or tool, or another program or
  tool that complies with the requirements for the net price
  calculator required under Section 132(h)(3), Higher Education Act
  of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Section 1015a), available on their Internet
  websites not later than the date by which the institutions are
  required by Section 132(h)(3) to make the net price calculator
  publicly available on their Internet websites.
         SECTION 2.  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, 2009.
 
 
 
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1764 passed the Senate on
  May 5, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 0; and that the
  Senate concurred in House amendment on May 30, 2009, by the
  following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1764 passed the House, with
  amendment, on May 27, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 148,
  Nays 0, one present not voting.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
 
  Approved:
 
  ______________________________ 
              Date
 
 
  ______________________________ 
            Governor