The 74th Texas Legislature adopted House Bill 815 that added Section 54.545 to the Texas Education Code requiring the governing board of an institution of higher education to charge a reasonable fee to persons registered in continuing education courses at the institution. Continuing education is defined to include an "extension course, correspondence course, or other self-supporting course" for which the institution does not collect tuition or receive formula funding. The statute also provides that the fee shall be in sufficient amount to permit the institution to recover costs of providing the course.

The Board approved the following policy on fees for continuing education courses mandating an institutional approval process that subjects fees to periodic audits for compliance with statutory requirements and fiscal controls and provides for appropriate reporting.

Policy on Fees for Continuing Education Courses

Component institutions of The University of Texas System are authorized by the U. T. Board of Regents in accordance with Section 54.545 of the Texas Education Code to charge a reasonable fee to each person registered in an extension, correspondence or other self-supporting course at the institution and to set the fee in an amount sufficient to recover the costs for providing the course. Such courses may not include any course for which the institution collects tuition or receives formula funding.

The U. T. Board of Regents delegates to the president of the respective component institutions the authority and responsibility for approving the amount of the fee to be charged for each course. Continuing education course fees are subject to periodic audit for compliance with statutory requirements and/or to requests for reports from the U. T. Board of Regents, the Chancellor, or the respective Executive Vice Chancellors.

Each component institution shall adopt provisions in the institutional Handbook of Operating Procedures to reflect this policy and to incorporate institutional procedures for the approval process.

Last reviewed September 2000