Students who plan to transfer for the purpose of attaining a baccalaureate degree must be informed about the consequences of taking excessive courses outside of their degree plans. The result will include the possibility of the universities and four-year colleges imposing tuition penalties.

This reinforces the need for adequate degree planning, career counseling, and transfer information. Students who plan well and carefully select and complete courses within their degree plans may be eligible for tuition rebates.

University Rebates

A tuition rebate up to $1,000 is available to eligible students, at graduation, if the student attempted no more than three (3) semester credit hours beyond the minimum number of required hours for their bachelor’s degree.

The purpose of this program is to provide tuition rebates that will provide a financial incentive for students to prepare for university studies while completing their high school work, avail themselves of academic counseling, make early career decisions, and complete their baccalaureate studies with as few courses outside the degree plan as possible. Minimizing the number of courses taken by students results in financial savings to students, parents, and the state.

Requirements

A student may qualify for the $1,000 rebate if the student meets all eligibility requirements as stated below:

• Enrolled at a college or university for the first time in Fall 1997 or later
• First bachelor’s degree only
• Classified as in-district or in-state residency during all semesters for bachelor’s degree
• Attempted no more than 3 hours in excess of the minimum number required to complete the degree program

Attempted hours include:

• Transfer credits
• Course credit earned exclusively by examination (first 9 hours are excluded)
• Earned hours
• Unearned hours (non-passing grades)
• Courses dropped after the official census date
• For-credit developmental courses
• Optional internship and cooperative education courses
• Repeated courses

Hours excluded include:

• Courses taken for a Reserves Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program but that is not required to complete the degree program
• Courses dropped for reasons that are determined by the institution to be totally beyond the control of the student
• Course credit earned before graduating high school, unless the course credit was earned exclusively by examination (first 9 hours are excluded)
• For students concurrently earning a baccalaureate degree and a Texas teaching certificate, required teacher education courses shall not be counted to the extent that they are over and above the free electives allowed in the baccalaureate degree program
• Responsibilities of the student:
• Students who wish to qualify for tuition rebates are responsible for complying with all rules and regulations related to administration of the program.
• Students who wish to qualify for tuition rebates are solely responsible for enrolling in courses that will qualify them for the rebates.
• A student who has transferred from another public or independent institution of higher education is responsible for providing LSCS official transcripts from all institutions attended by the student.
• The Tuition Rebate Form must be submitted by the requesting student to the student’s Dean of Student Services prior to the last day of the last term in which the student will graduate. 
• The student must keep the institution apprised of their address for at least 60 days after their graduation date.

Tuition Rebate Form

Amount of tuition rebates:

• The amount of tuition to be rebated to a student under this program is $1,000, unless the total amount of undergraduate tuition paid by the student to the LSCS was less than $1,000, in which event the amount of tuition to be rebated is an amount equal to the amount of undergraduate tuition paid by the student to the institution.
• A student who paid LSCS an amount of undergraduate tuition less than $1,000 may qualify for an increase in the amount of the rebate, not to exceed a total rebate of $1,000, for any amount of undergraduate tuition the student paid to other Texas public institutions of higher education by providing LSCS with proof of the total amount of that tuition paid to other institutions.
• Tuition rebates shall be reduced by the amount of any outstanding student loan, including an emergency loan, owed to or guaranteed by this state, including the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation. If a student has more than one outstanding student loan, the institution shall apply the amount of the rebate to the loans as directed by the student. If the student fails to provide timely instructions on the application of the amount, the institution shall apply the amount of the rebate to retire the loans with the highest interest rates first.

For More Information

For more information on the tuition rebate program, visit the Texas Administrative Code website Chapter 13, Subchapter E