Honorable Bevington Reed Opinion No. H- 26
Commissioner, Coordinating Board
Texas College 81 University System Re: Fees collected from
P. 0. Box 12708, Capitol Station non-resident military
~Austin, Texas 78711 personnel by institutions
of higher learning under
$ 54.058 of the Texas
Dear Mr. Reed: Education Code.
Your request for an opinion reads:
“Section 54.058(d) of the Texas Education Code
provides that ’ . . . nonresident military personnel
. . . attending an institution of higher education under
a contract between the institution and any branch of
the Armed Forces of the United Smter, in which the
tuition of the member of the military is paid in full
by the United States government , . . . shall pay the
nonresident tuition fee . . . . ’ (emphasis added).
What is meant by the phrase ‘paid’in full’? If a por-
tion of the tuition is paid by the student or from
scholarship funds of the college, would the institution
be required to charge the nonresident tuition fee? If
the answer to the second question is negative. would
such nonresident military personnel be subject to the .
provisions of Section 54.058(b) of the Texae Education
Code? ”
Section 54.052 of the Texas Education Code sets out the general
rules for classifying students as “resident” or “non-resident”. Section
54. 058, formerly Article 2654c, (l)(k),V..T. C. S. , modifies the general
rule a&s&s out additional rules applicable to non-resident military ,
personnel and their dependents, exempting certain of them from non-
resident tuition requirements. Without changing their classification,
they are accorded certain privileges otherwise reserved to residents.
Persons who would be classified as residents under other provisions
p. ll1
Honorable Bevington Reed, page 2 (H-26)
:
of the Code are not affected. Compare Carrington v. Rash, 380
U. S. 89, 13 L. Ed. 2d 675, 05 S. Ct. 775(1965). Codification of the
Education Code worked no substantial change in the law. Acts, 1971,
62nd Leg., p. 3319.
In effect, the provisions now embodied in subsection 54.0,58(d) 3
exclude from subsection 54.058(b) exempt status any non-resident
military personnel attending an institution of higher learning in
this state under a contract between the institution and any branch
of the U. S. Armed Forces whereby the person’s tuition is paid. k
full
- by the United States government.
Section 2.01 of~the Code Construction Act, Article 5429b-2,
V.T.C.S.. specifies that words and phrases shall be read in
context and construed according to the rules of grammar and common
usage. In this context the term “paid in full” is synonymous with
“entirely paid”,’ or “paid in its entirety”. See FULL, 17A Words
and Phrases 466; and Webster’s Third New International Dictionary,
p. 919, where -full is said to mean:
“3. the requisite or complete amount - often used with ’
- in [paid in full] . ”
‘.
It is our opinion that the Legislature intended the worda in this
sense and that if any portion of the tuition is paid by the student or
from some other source, such as scholarship funds, the tuition
would not be “paid in full” by the United States government and the
exclusion wou1.d not apply. Subsection 54.058(b) would then control.
See Attorney General Opinions C-183(1963), M-1106(1972).
SUMMARY
Non-resident military personnel who would
be exempt under subsection 54.058(b) of the Texas
Education Code from paying non-resident tuition
fees are’not excluded from such exempt status
by subsection 54.058(d) if any portion of their tui-
tion is paid from sources other than the federal .
government.
Attorney General of Texas
Honorable Bevington Reed, page 3 (H-26)
.
DAVID M. KENDALL, Chairman
Opinion Committee