FUNDING FOR CERTAIN EXCESS UNDERGRADUATE CREDIT HOURS.

(a) In the formulas established under Section 61.059 or Chapter 130A, the board may not include funding for semester credit hours earned by a resident undergraduate student who before the semester or other academic session begins has previously attempted a number of semester credit hours for courses taken at any institution of higher education while classified as a resident student for tuition purposes that exceeds the number of semester credit hours required for completion of the degree program or programs in which the student is enrolled, including minors and double majors, and for completion of any certificate or other special program in which the student is also enrolled, including a program with a study-abroad component, by at least:

(1) for an associate degree program, 15 hours; or

(2) for a baccalaureate degree program, 30 hours.

(b) For purposes of Subsection (a), an undergraduate student who is not enrolled in a degree program is considered to be enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program.

(c) For a student enrolled in a baccalaureate program under Section 51.931, semester credit hours that were earned by the student before the date the student began the new degree program under Section 51.931 and that were disregarded under institution policy as described by that section are not counted for purposes of determining whether the student has previously earned the number of semester credit hours specified by Subsection (a).

(d) The following are not counted for purposes of determining whether the student has previously earned the number of semester credit hours specified by Subsection (a):

(1) semester credit hours earned by the student before receiving a baccalaureate degree that has previously been awarded to the student;

(2) 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;

(3) 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;

(4) semester credit hours earned by the student at a private institution or an out-of-state institution;

(5) semester credit hours earned by the student before graduating from high school and used to satisfy high school graduation requirements;

(6) the first additional 15 semester credit hours earned toward a degree program by a student who:

(A) has reenrolled 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 reenrollment; and

(B) successfully completed at least 50 semester credit hours of course work at an institution of higher education before that break in enrollment; and

(7) semester credit hours earned by the student before receiving an associate degree that has been previously awarded to the student.

(e) Subsection (a) applies only to funding for semester credit hours earned by a student who initially enrolled as an undergraduate student in any institution of higher education during or after the 1999 fall semester, except that with respect to semester credit hours earned by a student who initially enrolls as an undergraduate student in any institution of higher education before the 2006 fall semester, the board may not reduce funding under this section until the number of semester credit hours previously attempted by the student as described by this section exceeds the number of semester credit hours required for the student's degree program by at least 45 hours.

(f) In the formulas established under Section 61.059 or Chapter 130A, the board shall include without consideration of Subsection (a) funding for semester credit hours earned by a student who initially enrolled as an undergraduate student in any institution of higher education before the 1999 fall semester.

(f-1) In the formulas established under Section 61.059, the board shall include without consideration of Subsection (a) or (e) of this section funding for semester credit hours earned by a student who is enrolled in a competency-based baccalaureate degree program, as defined by Section 56.521.

(g) To the extent practicable, the savings to the state resulting from the exclusion of funding for excess undergraduate semester credit hours from the funding formulas of the board as required by this section shall be used to finance the Toward EXcellence, Access, & Success (TEXAS) grant program under Subchapter M, Chapter 56.