ADMISSIONS

Admissions Standards

In addition to powers and duties specifically granted by this code or other law, each governing board shall collaborate with institutions under its control and management, including a college district, to set campus admission standards consistent with the role and mission of the institution and considering the admission standards of similar institutions nationwide having a similar role and mission, as determined by the Coordinating Board. Education Code 51.352(d)(5)

Common Admission

Application Forms

Apply Texas

System

Public community colleges, public state colleges, and public technical institutes shall accept freshman and undergraduate transfer applications submitted using the electronic common admission application forms. When sending a printed common application form to a student with or without other materials, an institution shall not alter the form in any way and shall include instructions for completing the form, general application information, and instructions for accessing a list of deadlines for all institutions.

Each general academic teaching institution, public community college, public state college, and public technical institute shall collect information regarding gender, race/ethnicity, and date of birth as part of the application process and report this information to the Coordinating Board. Common application forms do not have to be the source of those data.

Institutions of higher education may require an applicant to submit additional information within a reasonable time after the institution has received a common application form.

Participating institutions may charge a reasonable fee for the filing of a common application form. Operating costs of the system may be paid for by all institutions required to use the common application plus independent and health-related institutions that contract to use the electronic application, in accordance with 19 Administrative Code 4.10(h). Institutions failing to pay their share of the cost by the due date may be denied access to incoming application data until such time that payments are received.

Education Code 51.762; 19 TAC 4.10(a)-(c), (e)(2)-(3), (h)

Right to an

Academic Fresh

Start

Unless otherwise prohibited by law, a resident of this state is entitled to apply for admission to and enroll as an undergraduate student in any public institution of higher education, including a college district, under Education Code 51.931.

Nothing in this section prohibits a public institution of higher education from applying standard admissions criteria generally applicable to persons seeking admission to the institution.

Education Code 51.931(b), (e)

Credits or Grades Earned 10 or More Years Prior

If an applicant elects to seek admission under this section, a public institution of higher education, in considering the applicant for admission, shall not consider academic course credits or grades earned by the applicant 10 or more years prior to the starting date of the semester in which the applicant seeks to enroll. An applicant who makes the election to apply under this section and is admitted as a student may not receive any course credit for courses undertaken 10 or more years prior to enrollment. Education Code 51.931(c)

Credits or Grades Earned 5-10 Years Prior

In considering an applicant for admission under this section, a public institution of higher education may choose to disregard academic course credits or grades earned by the applicant more recently than 10 years before the starting date of the semester in which the applicant seeks to enroll, except the institution may not disregard any credits or grades earned during the five-year period preceding that date. An institution that chooses to disregard course credits or grades earned during the additional period must disregard all course credits or grades earned during that period and may not award any credit for those courses. Education Code 51.931(c-1)

Policy Required

Each public institution of higher education shall adopt, post on the institution's internet website, and submit to the Coordinating Board a policy regarding the admissions made by the institution under this section, including the period for which an applicant's course credits or grades will be considered by the institution under the policy.

Education Code 51.931(c-2)

Free College

Application Week

“Free college application week” means the week starting on the second Monday in October and continuing through the following Sunday, during which application fees for undergraduate admission shall be waived for Texas residents using the ApplyTexas1 application system. Education Code 61.0731, 19 TAC 20.31

Fee Waiver Requirements

Each institution of higher education in Texas, including each college district, shall:

1. Waive all undergraduate admission application fees for applications submitted by Texas residents using the ApplyTexas application system during free college application week;

2. Ensure that the waiver applies automatically to all qualifying applicants and does not require separate fee waiver requests from the applicant; and

3. Publicly communicate the availability of free college application week in a timely manner to prospective students, school

counselors, and the public.

Education Code 61.0731, 19 TAC 20.32

Implementation

Institutions shall make necessary technical and administrative adjustments to their systems and processes to ensure compliance during free college application week each year. 19 TAC 20.33(a)

Posting Required

Each institution of higher education shall prominently post a link to MyTexasFuture.Org2 on their admissions websites with a notice to students that they can use the common application form found in ApplyTexas.Org or via MyTexasFuture.Org alongside any alternative application platform that the institution uses.

Information about free college application week and the fee waiver must be posted prominently on the institution's admissions website and communicated in English, Spanish, and any other languages commonly spoken by the institution's applicant population.

Education Code 51.763(d); 19 TAC 20.33(b)-(c)

Recordkeeping

Institutions shall maintain records of the number of applications submitted during free college application week and any related communications or procedures. 19 TAC 20.34

Students with

Nontraditional

Secondary

Education

“Nontraditional secondary education” means a course of study at the secondary school level in a nonaccredited private school setting, including a home school.

Because the State of Texas considers successful completion of a nontraditional secondary education to be equivalent to graduation from a public high school, an institution of higher education, including a college district, must treat an applicant for admission to the institution as an undergraduate student who presents evidence that the person has successfully completed a nontraditional secondary education according to the same general standards, including specific standardized testing score requirements, as other applicants for undergraduate admission who have graduated from a public high school.

An institution of higher education may not require an applicant for admission to the institution as an undergraduate student who presents evidence that the person has successfully completed a nontraditional secondary education to:

1. Obtain or submit evidence that the person has obtained a general education development certificate, certificate of high school equivalency, or other credentials equivalent to a public high school degree; or

2. Take an examination or comply with any other application or admission requirement not generally applicable to other applicants for undergraduate admission to the institution.

If an institution of higher education in its undergraduate admission review process sorts applicants by high school graduating class rank, the institution shall place assign a class rank to any applicant who presents evidence that the applicant has successfully completed a nontraditional secondary education that does not include a high school graduating class ranking by:

1. Calculating for each class rank of other applicants to the institution the median score on each college entrance examination the institution considers in admissions; and

2. Assigning to the applicant the highest class rank for which the applicant's score on a college entrance examination the institution considers in admissions is at least equal to the median score for that class rank calculated under Education Code

51.9241(d)(1).

An institution of higher education that in its undergraduate admission review process sorts applicants by high school graduating class rank shall post on the institution's internet website the median score on each college entrance examination the institution considers in admissions calculated for each class rank under Education Code 51.9241(d)(1) for the preceding admissions cycle.

Education Code 51.9241

Veterans, Spouses,

and Dependents

In determining whether to admit a person to any certificate program or professional degree program, an institution of higher education, including a college district, may not consider the fact that the person is eligible for an exemption under Education Code 54.341 (Veterans and Other Military Personnel; Dependents). Education Code 54.341(j)

Immunization Notice

An institution of higher education, including a college district, in conjunction with the Texas Department of State Health Services, should provide individual notice to each student applying for admission regarding:

1. The consequences of not being current on immunization for certain diseases;

2. The age groups most vulnerable to these vaccine-preventable diseases; and

3. Local providers of immunization services.

Education Code 51.933; 25 TAC 97.64(a), (d)

Note: For information regarding immunization requirements

that apply to applicants for admission, see FFAA.

Foreign Students

SEVIS System

A school or school system, including a college district, seeking initial or continued authorization for attendance by a nonimmigrant, alien student holding an F visa (academic institutions), J visa (exchange student program), or M visa (vocational and nonacademic institutions), including a “border commuter” student holding an F-3 or M-3 visa (Canadian and Mexican nationals), must apply to the U.S. Attorney General for approval under 8 U.S.C. 1372 and 8 C.F.R. 214.3.

A school must also submit electronic data regarding nonimmigrant students through the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). A school shall provide the information set forth at 8 U.S.C. 1372(c) and 8 C.F.R. 214.3(g), regarding each student with an F, J, or M visa. Schools must update SEVIS with the current information within 21 days of a change in the information or the occurrence of events described in 8 C.F.R. 214.3(g)(2).8 U.S.C. 1372; 8 C.F.R. 214.3(a)(1), (g)-(h)

Not later than 30 days after the deadline for registering for classes for an academic term of an approved institution of higher education or other approved educational institution for which documentation is issued for an alien, or the scheduled commencement of participation by an alien in a designated exchange visitor program, as the case may be, the institution or program, respectively, shall report to the Immigration and Naturalization Service any failure of the alien to enroll or to commence participation. 8 U.S.C. 1372(a)(4); 8 C.F.R. 214.3(g)(2)

An educational agency or institution may not refuse to report information concerning an F or M nonimmigrant student or a J nonimmigrant exchange visitor that the educational agency or institution is required to report under 8 U.S.C. 1372 and 8 C.F.R. 214.3(g) (or any corresponding U.S. Department of State regulation concerning J nonimmigrants) on the basis of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and any regulation implementing FERPA.

The waiver of FERPA under this paragraph authorizes and requires an educational agency or institution to report information concerning an F, J, or M nonimmigrant that would ordinarily be protected by FERPA but only to the extent that 8 U.S.C. 1372 and 8 C.F.R.214.3(g) (or any corresponding U.S. Department of State regulation concerning J nonimmigrants) requires the educational agency or institution to report information. 8 U.S.C. 1372(c)(2); 8 C.F.R.214.1(h)

Readmission After

Military Service

This section applies only to a student who withdraws from an institution of higher education, including a college district, to perform active military service as a member of the U.S. Armed Forces or the Texas National Guard, except that this section does not apply to a student who withdraws from an institution solely to perform one or more training exercises as a member of the Texas National Guard.

For any academic term that begins after the date a student described above is released from active military service but not later than the first anniversary of that date, the institution of higher education from which the student withdrew shall readmit the student, without requiring reapplication or charging a fee for readmission, if the student is otherwise eligible to register for classes at the institution. On readmission of the student, the institution shall:

1. Provide to the student any financial assistance previously provided by the institution to the student before the student’s

withdrawal if the student meets current eligibility requirements for the assistance, other than any requirement directly affected by the student’s services, such as continuous enrollment or another similar timing requirement; and

2. Allow the student the same academic status that the student had before the student’s withdrawal, including any course

credit awarded to the student by the institution.

An institution of higher education may adopt rules requiring reasonable proof from a student of the fact and duration of the student’s active military service.

Education Code 51.9242

Persons with

Disabilities

Qualified persons may not, on the basis of disability, be denied admission or be subjected to discrimination in admission or recruitment by a postsecondary education program or activity to which 34 C.F.R. Part 104, Subpart E, applies. 34 C.F.R. 104.42(a)

Notice of Penalty for

False Alarm or

Report

Each institution of higher education, including each college district, and private or independent institution of higher education shall notify all incoming students, as soon as practicable, of the penalty for the offense under Penal Code 42.06 of making a false alarm or report involving a public or private institution of higher education. Education Code 51.219(b)

1 ApplyTexas.org: https://www.applytexas.org/

2 MyTexasFuture.org: https://www.mytexasfuture.org/