Tuition Rebates for Certain Undergraduates

An undergraduate may be eligible for a tuition rebate of up to $1,000 if, at graduation, he or she has attempted no more than three semester hours beyond the minimum number of hours required for the degree. The student must meet the following eligibility requirements.

1. The student must not have been enrolled at any institution of higher education before the fall semester 1997.
2. At the time he or she earns a first undergraduate degree, the student must have attempted no more than three semester hours beyond the minimum number of hours required for the degree. Hours attempted include all courses the student has undertaken, such as transfer credit, courses the student dropped or from which the student withdrew after the date the official enrollment count was taken, developmental courses taken for credit, optional internship and cooperative education courses, courses the student failed, and courses the student repeated. If the student has earned credit by examination for more than nine hours of coursework, the hours in excess of nine are also counted as hours attempted.
   
   Courses dropped for reasons that are determined by the institution to be totally beyond the control of the student shall not be counted.
   
   Beginning with degrees awarded on Sept. 1, 2007, or later, course credit is not counted if the student earned it to meet ROTC requirements but it is not required for the degree.
   
   If the student earned a bachelor's degree and a Texas teaching certificate concurrently, required teacher education courses are not counted as hours attempted if they exceed the number of hours of free electives allowed in the bachelor's degree program.
3. The student must have been a Texas resident and must have been eligible to pay resident tuition at all times while pursuing the degree.
4. If the student received a bachelor's degree in architecture, engineering, or any other program that is determined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to require more than four years to complete, then the student must have graduated within five calendar years after first enrolling in a Texas public senior college or university. If the student's degree is in a field other than those that have been determined to take more than four years to complete, he or she must graduate within four calendar years after that first enrollment.
   
   Requirement 4 applies only to students who enrolled in a public Texas senior college or university for the first time on or after Sept. 1, 2005.
   
   A student who was unable to meet requirement 4 because of a hardship may seek an exception to this requirement from his or her dean.

An eligible student should submit a request for a rebate in the dean's office when the student files an application for graduation; the request must be submitted before the official date of graduation. If the student's request for a rebate is denied, he or she may appeal to the provost. The rebate may be reduced by the amount of any outstanding student loan owed to or guaranteed by the state of Texas.

Tuition rebate policies are governed by section 54.0065 of the Texas Education Code and by the rules of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. More information about tuition rebates is published by the Coordinating Board.

If a student doesn't qualify for a tuition rebate only because of study abroad coursework that exceeds the number of hours required for the degree, then the student may be eligible for an institutional award from the university in place of the tuition rebate. Students who are interested in this institutional award should apply for a tuition rebate; they will be considered for the institutional award if they are eligible.

More Tuition Rebate Information from Colleges/Schools

• Cockrell School of Engineering
• College of Communication
• College of Fine Arts
• College of Liberal Arts
• College of Natural Sciences
• McCombs School of Business

Longhorn Fixed Tuition Rebate

Eligibility Requirements

• Resident and Non-Resident undergraduate students are eligible for a $2,500 rebate if they are enrolled in the Longhorn Fixed Tuition program
• Student must not have attempted more than three semester credit hours in excess of the minimum number required to complete the degree in the catalog under which they graduate
• Students who want to receive the rebate must graduate within four calendar years for a four-year degree program or within five calendar years if the degree requires more than four years to complete
• Students must complete at least 60 semester credit hours of coursework counted toward the degree in residence
• Student must not have already received a bachelor's degree
• A student is required to apply for a tuition rebate prior to graduation
• Resident undergraduate students are eligible for an additional $1,000 rebate if they meet the criteria for the existing tuition rebate program

What does “hours attempted” mean?
“Hours attempted” include:

• Every course for which the student has registered, as of the official Census Date, in every semester
• Transfer credit from a private or out-of-state college or university count as attempted semester credit hours for determining eligibility for the rebate
• Courses from semesters in which the student withdraws from the university
• Repeated courses
• Course credit earned —in excess of nine credit hours—exclusively by examination.  For example, credit earned through AP courses, CLEP exams or high SAT or ACT scores.
• Courses dropped after the official census date
• Optional internship and cooperative education courses
• Graduate level hours taken while earning a baccalaureate degree

“Hours attempted” does not include:

• Course credit that is earned to satisfy requirements for a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program but that is not required to complete the degree program
• Course credit, other than course credit earned exclusively by examination, that is earned before graduating from high school
• Courses dropped for reasons that are determined by the institution to be totally beyond the control of the student.
• For students concurrently earning a bachelor’s degree and completing Texas teacher education courses, required teacher education courses shall not be counted to the extent that they are over and above the free electives allowed in the bachelor’s degree program.
• Dual credit courses

What could disqualify an Individual?

A student is required to apply for a tuition rebate prior to graduation.  Students who have already graduated and who did not apply for the tuition rebate may not apply following graduation.

Attempted hours include every course for which the student has registered, as of the official Census Date, in every semester, including repeated courses and courses from which the student withdraws (dropped courses as well as withdrawal from the college or university). If a student has dropped more than one course after the official Census Date, he or she will probably not qualify for the rebate.

The first nine credit hours earned by examination – for example, credit earned through AP courses, CLEP exams or high SAT or ACT scores - do not count as hours attempted. Additional credit earned exclusively by examination will still count toward hours attempted.

Dual credit courses—courses taken in high school for both high school and college credit—are exempted from consideration in determining a student’s eligibility.

To be eligible, a student must be enrolled in the Longhorn Fixed Tuition Program.  A student must graduate within four calendar years from their initial enrollment in college after high school graduation for a four-year degree or within five calendar years for a five-year degree.  A student must not have attempted more than three semester credit hours in excess of the minimum number required to complete the degree in the catalog under which they graduate.