Undergraduate Funding Limit Rules

Texas Education Code § 54.014 provides a limit to the number of hours an undergraduate Texas resident may attempt while paying in-state tuition rates. This legislation impacts new undergraduate students enrolling in a Texas state institution of higher education in fall 1999 or thereafter. Students who exceed the limit of attempted hours could be charged tuition not to exceed that of out-of-state tuition rates. A&M-Central Texas adopted a fee of $100 per credit hour for students who exceed attempted hours under the Undergraduate Funding Limit Rule.

If you are a Texas resident who enrolled in any Texas state institution of higher education BEFORE 1999, you are exempt from the Undergraduate Funding Limit Rule.

If you are a Texas resident who enrolled in any Texas state institution of higher education for the first time in fall 1999 or later, the following provisions apply to you:

45-Hour Rule

New undergraduate students who started fall 1999 through summer 2006 and attempt 45 or more semester credit hours beyond the hours required to complete their degree will be charged an additional $100 per credit hour for these excess hours. Any student who is being charged additional tuition rates under the 45-hour rule and who wishes to appeal must file an appeal for each applicable semester. The appeal form and procedures may be obtained by contacting the Records and Admissions Office.

30-Hour Rule

New undergraduate students who started fall 2006 and thereafter and attempt 30 or more semester credit hours beyond the hours required to complete their degree will be charged an additional $100 per credit hour for these excess hours. Students who have not selected a major are considered, by state law, to have a degree requirement of 120 hours.

Please note that all hours in which a student was enrolled at any Texas state institution of higher education, community college, or four-year institution, are counted toward the 45 or 30 semester credit hour cap, whether or not the hours are accepted for transfer at A&M-Central Texas.

Texas Education code § 61.0595 has the following as not counted towards the Undergraduate Funding Limit Rule:

1. Semester credit hours earned by the student 10 or more years before the date the student begins the new degree program under Section 51.931 are not counted for purposes of determining whether the student has previously earned the number of semester credit hours;
2.  semester credit hours earned by the student before receiving a baccalaureate degree that has previously been awarded to the student;
3. semester credit hours earned by the student by examination or under any other procedure by which credit is earned without registering for a course for which tuition is charged;
4. credit for a remedial education course, a technical course, a workforce education course funded according to contact hours, or another course that does not count toward a degree program at the institution;
5. semester credit hours earned by the student at a private institution or an out-of-state institution;
6. semester credit hours earned by the student before graduating from high school and used to satisfy high school graduation requirements; and
7. the first additional 15 semester credit hours earned toward a degree program by a student who:
   1.  has re-enrolled at an institution of higher education following a break in enrollment from the institution or another institution of higher education covering the 24-month period preceding the first class day of the initial semester or other academic term of the student's re enrollment; and
   2. successfully completed at least 50 semester credit hours of coursework at an institution of higher education before that break in enrollment.

3-Peat Rule

Effective fall 2002, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) Rules (Chapter 13, Subchapter F, § 13.108) provide a limit to the number of times that a student may attempt a particular course. A student attempting a non-repeatable course more than two times at A&M-Central Texas will be subject to an additional fee of $100 per credit hour for the repeated course, in addition to the in-state tuition rate. This rule includes not only courses completed more than two times, but also courses the student dropped or from which the student withdrew after the official semester census date.

6-Drop Rule

Beginning with the fall 2007 academic term, and applying to all students who enroll in higher education for the first time during the fall 2007 academic term or any term subsequent to the fall 2007 term, an institution of higher education may not permit an undergraduate student a total of more than six dropped courses.  This includes courses dropped at another two- or four-year Texas public college or university (S.B. 2183, 80th Regular Session, Texas Legislature; THECB Regulation, Chapter 4, Section 4.10(a)).  Once a student has accumulated six (Q) drops, the student will no longer be eligible to drop additional courses.  

Effective with the 2018 fall semester, S.B. 1782 amended the Education Code to allow students to drop one additional course under certain circumstances. 

1. The student has re-enrolled at the institution following a break in enrollment from the institution or anther institution of higher ed  covering the 24-month period preceding the first class day of the initial semester or other academic term of the student's re-enrollment; and
2. successfully completed at least 50 semester credit hours of coursework at an institution of higher education before that break in enrollment.