The Attorney General of Texas
August 20, 1980
MARK WHITE
Attorney General
Honorable George W. McNiel Opinion No. NW-2 2 0
Auditor of the State of Texas Re: Whether junior colleges sre
Sam Houston State Office Building
required to collect tuition for non-
Austin, Texas 78711 credit vocational technical courses
Dear Mr. McNiel:
Your request for an opinion concerns the following rider to the General
Appropriations Act of 1977:
On or before the cletes for reporting official
enrollments each semester to the Texas Education
Agency, each Public Junior College shall collect in
full from each student that is to be counted for State
Aid purposes the amounts set as tuition by the
respective governing boards.
Acts 1977, 65th Leg., ch. 872, at 3005. A similar provision appears in the
current appropriations act. Acts 1979, 66th Leg., ch. 843, at 2781.
You ask the following questions:
1. Does the appearance of this provision at this
place in the General Appropriations Act establish a
requirement to collect tuition for non-credit voca-
tional-technical courses?
2. May the governing board of a public junior
college set a tuition end/or fee rate of zero for non-
credit vocational-technical courses reported for
funding through the Texas Education Agency? If not,
is the rate to be charged left to the discretion of the
board?
3. Is tuition collection required for vocational-
technical credit courses funded through the Texas
Education Agency?
Each semester, public junior colleges stirnit reports of official
enrollments to the Coordinating Board, Texas College and University
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Honorable George W. McNiel - Page Two (NW-2201
System, and to the Texas Education Agency. These reports are used in determining
future state appropriations. Even though the Coordinating Board generally oversees
the operation of public junior colleges, see section 130.001, Education Code, the Texas
Education Agency, by virtue of its responsibility to administer vocational education in
Texas public schools, provides funds for vocational education to public junior colleges.
See Educ. Code S§ 11.41,ll.42, ch. 31. Public junior colleges must, therefore, report all
ztact hours for vocational-educational courses to the Texas Education Agency and
all hours for academic courses to the Coordinating Board. The language of the
appropriations provision cited therefore refers to tuition collection for vocational
education courses.
Public junior colleges wishing to participate in state funding must comply with
section 54.051 of the Education Code. See Educ. Code Sl30.003(b)(4), Attorney General
Opinions MW-38 (1979); H-103 (1973). Wfiut exception, all provisions of section 54.051
which could apply to junior colleges require tuition per semester credit hour.
As your letter suggests, it apparently has been generally understood, both by your
office and by the various junior colleges, that the phrase “semester credit hours” in
section 54.051 means that tuition must be assessed for all courses offered for credit,
but not for non-credit courses. We conclude that this is a reasonable interpretation of
this section, and that any course, whether academic or vocational, offered for credit in
a public junior college wishing to participate in state funding must be offered on a
tuition basis. By necessary implication, no tuition is required for non-credit courses.
Since no statute requiring tuition for non-credit courses exists, the governing
board of each junior college may, under the terms of section 130.002 of the Education
Code, set tuition and/or fee rates for non-credit courses. Section 130.002 states:
All authority not vested by this chapter or by other laws of
the state in the coordinating board or in the Central Education
Agency is reserved and retained locally in each of the
respective public junior college districts or in the governing
boards of such junior colleges as provided in the laws applicable.
Therefore, in answer to your second question, rates charged for non-credit
courses are left to the discretion of the governing boards of public junior colleges,
which discretion necessarily includes setting a fee rate of zero.
We answer your first question in the negative. It &es not appear from the plain
language of the stiject appropriations provision that the legislature intended to impose
a tuition structure on public junior colleges. Instead, only such tuition as the various
governing bodies deem appropriate need be collected by the specified date.
SUMMARY
A rider to the General Appropriations Act found at Acts
1977, 65th Legislature, chapter 8’72, at 3005, does not establish
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Honorable George W. McNiel - Page Three (NW-330)
a requirement to collect tuition for non-credit vocational
technical courses.
A governing board of a public junior college has full
discretion in setting tuition and/or fees for non-credit voca-
tional-technical courses, including a fee rate of zero. Tuition is
required, however, for vocational-technical courses taken for
credit pursuant to sections 54.051 and 130.003(b)(4) of the
Education Code.
verYtverYt!
MARK WHITE
Attorney General of Texas
JOHN W FAlNTER, JR.
First Assistant Attorney General
Prepared by Eva Loutzenhiser
Assistant Attorney General
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMlTTEE
C. Robert Heath, Chairman
Jon Bible
Susan Garrison
Rick Gilpin
Eva Loutzenhiser
P. 703