PARAMEDICS ENROLLED IN CERTAIN COURSES.

(a) The governing board of an institution of higher education shall exempt from the payment of tuition and laboratory fees any student enrolled in one or more courses offered as part of an emergency medical services curriculum who is employed as a paramedic by a political subdivision of this state.

(b) An exemption provided under this section does not apply to deposits that may be required in the nature of security for the return or proper care of property loaned for the use of students.

(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a student who for a semester or term at an institution of higher education receives an exemption provided under this section may continue to receive the exemption for a subsequent semester or term at any institution only if the student makes satisfactory academic progress toward a degree or certificate at that institution as determined by the institution for purposes of financial aid.

(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the exemption provided under this section does not apply to any amount of additional tuition the institution elects to charge a resident undergraduate student under Section 54.014(a) or (f).

(e) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the exemption provided under this section does not apply to any amount of tuition the institution charges a graduate student in excess of the amount of tuition charged to similarly situated graduate students because the student has a number of semester credit hours of doctoral work in excess of the applicable number provided by Section 61.059(l)(1) or (2).

(f) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the governing board of an institution of higher education is not required to provide an exemption under this section for a course offered exclusively through distance education to a number of students enrolled in the course in excess of 20 percent of the maximum student enrollment designated by the institution for that course.

(g) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt:

(1) rules governing the granting or denial of an exemption provided under this section, including rules:

(A) prescribing the educational attainment or level of certification necessary to qualify for an exemption as a paramedic;

(B) relating to the determination of a student's eligibility for an exemption; and

(C) relating to the exclusion from the exemption under Subsection (f) of a distance education course, including prescribing the maximum number of distance education courses that may be excluded from the exemption under that subsection; and

(2) a uniform listing of degree programs covered by the exemption provided under this section.