DIRECT ADMISSIONS AND FINANCIAL AID PORTAL AT MYTEXASFUTURE.ORG.

(a) The board shall create, maintain, and administer an electronic platform and submission portal, known as My Texas Future (MyTexasFuture.Org), to facilitate the awareness and application of students into institutions of higher education.

(b) My Texas Future, or any successor electronic platform established pursuant to this section, shall include:

(1) a link or direct submission portal to the electronic common admission application form adopted and established pursuant to Subchapter S, Chapter 51;

(2) a direct admissions program that lists institutions of higher education to which a student may be directly admitted based on the student's profile and information;

(3) to the greatest extent possible, a list of financial aid awards that a student may be eligible to receive based on the student's profile and information; and

(4) the data required by Section 61.09022 to assist students in assessing the value of postsecondary credentials by program.

(c) A Texas school district or an open-enrollment charter school shall as part of the high school registration process annually notify, in a manner prescribed by board rule, each parent or guardian of a student who has earned at least three high school course credits or not later than the end of a student's first semester of ninth grade:

(1) of the option to create or update annually a profile and account in My Texas Future;

(2) that a student or their parent is permitted to update or revise their own profile in My Texas Future;

(3) that a student or parent of a student who creates a profile and account under this section, may opt out of one or more programs offered under Subsection (b); and

(4) of the graduation requirement under Section 28.0257 for a student or parent to indicate whether the student wishes to opt in to allowing the board to share the student's data and educational records with institutions of higher education for the purpose of participating in the direct admissions program established under Subsection (b)(2).

(d) The Texas Education Agency and the board shall jointly prepare and post on their respective Internet websites a publication that includes the information required to be provided under Subsection (c) in a form that enables a school district or open-enrollment charter school to reproduce the publication for distribution under that subsection.

(e) The Texas Education Agency and each Texas public school district or open-enrollment charter school shall make the data available to the board necessary to administer this section.

(f) The board may adopt rules necessary to implement this section.

(g) The board may share a student's contact information in MyTexasFuture.Org with an institution of higher education unless the student opts out of sharing the student's contact information. Any student information shared with an institution of higher education is confidential pursuant to Subsection (l). The board shall ensure that a student may opt out of sharing the student's contact information with an institution of higher education.

(l) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, except as provided by this section, information that relates to a current, former, or prospective applicant or student of an educational institution and that is obtained, received, or held by the board for the purpose of administering this section or otherwise providing assistance with access to postsecondary education is confidential and excepted from disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code, and may only be released in conformity with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g). The board may withhold information prohibited from being disclosed under this subsection without requesting a decision from the attorney general under Subchapter G, Chapter 552, Government Code.