Every University Can Cap Automatic Admission At 50 Percent

The text as introduced · 758 words

89R8910 RDR-D

By: Hickland
H.B. No. 3148

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the automatic admission of students to general academic

teaching institutions.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Sections 51.803(a-1), (a-2), and (a-6),

Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a-1) Beginning with admissions for the 2029-2030

[ 2011-2012 ] academic year, a general academic teaching institution

[ The University of Texas at Austin ] is not required to offer

admission to applicants who qualify for automatic admission under

Subsection (a) in excess of the number required to fill 50 [ 75 ]

percent of the institution's [ university's ] enrollment capacity

designated for first-time resident undergraduate students in an

academic year. If the number of applicants who qualify for

automatic admission to the institution [ The University of Texas at

Austin ] under Subsection (a) for an academic year exceeds 50 [ 75 ]

percent of the institution's [ university's ] enrollment capacity

designated for first-time resident undergraduate students for that

academic year, the institution [ university ] may elect to offer

admission to those applicants as provided by this subsection and

not as otherwise required by Subsection (a). If the institution

[ university ] elects to offer admission under this subsection, the

institution [ university ] shall offer admission to those applicants

by percentile rank according to high school graduating class

standing based on grade point average, beginning with the top

percentile rank, until the applicants qualified under Subsection

(a) have been offered admission in the number estimated in good

faith by the institution [ university ] as sufficient to fill 50 [ 75 ]

percent of the institution's [ university's ] enrollment capacity

designated for first-time resident undergraduate students, except

that the institution [ university ] must offer admission to all

applicants with the same percentile rank. After the applicants

qualified for automatic admission under Subsection (a) have been

offered admission under this subsection in the number estimated in

good faith as sufficient to fill at least 50 [ 75 ] percent of the

designated enrollment capacity described by this subsection, the

institution [ university ] shall consider any remaining applicants

qualified for automatic admission under Subsection (a) in the same

manner as other applicants for admission as first-time

undergraduate students in accordance with Section 51.805.

(a-2) If the number of applicants who apply to a general

academic teaching institution during the current academic year for

admission in the next academic year and who qualify for automatic

admission to a general academic teaching institution under

Subsection (a) exceeds 50 [ 75 ] percent of the institution's

enrollment capacity designated for first-time resident

undergraduate students for that next academic year and the

institution plans to offer admission under Subsection (a-1) during

the next school year, the institution shall, in the manner

prescribed by the Texas Education Agency and not later than

September 15, provide to each school district, for dissemination of

the information to high school junior-level students and their

parents, notice of which percentile ranks of high school

senior-level students who qualify for automatic admission under

Subsection (a) are anticipated by the institution to be offered

admission under Subsection (a-1) during the next school year.

(a-6) Not later than December 31 of each academic year in

which a general academic teaching institution [ The University of

Texas at Austin ] offers admission under Subsection (a-1), the

institution [ university ] shall deliver a written report to the

governor, the lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house of

representatives regarding the institution's [ university's ]

progress in each of the following matters:

(1) increasing geographic diversity of the entering

freshman class;

(2) counseling and outreach efforts aimed at students

qualified for automatic admission under this section;

(3) recruiting Texas residents who graduate from other

institutions of higher education to the institution's

[ university's ] graduate and professional degree programs;

(4) recruiting students who are members of

underrepresented demographic segments of the state's population;

and

(5) assessing and improving the institution's

[ university's ] regional recruitment efforts [ centers ].

SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply

beginning with admissions to a general academic teaching

institution for the 2029-2030 academic year. Admissions to a

general academic teaching institution for an academic period before

that academic year 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 September 1, 2025.