Section 7.125 - Redemption of Tuition Units(a) In accordance with this subchapter, when a beneficiary under a prepaid tuition contract redeems tuition units to pay costs of tuition and required fees, the board shall apply money in the Fund, in the amount provided by Education Code, § 54.765, to pay all or the applicable portion of the costs of the beneficiary's tuition and required fees at the general academic teaching institution, two-year institution of higher education, private or independent institution of higher education, medical and dental unit, career school, or accredited out-of-state institution of higher education in which the beneficiary enrolls. (1) Subject to subsection (c)(2) of this section, and the other provisions of this section, a beneficiary may redeem any type of tuition unit or partial tuition unit for attendance at an institution described by this section.(2) A general academic teaching institution or two-year institution of higher education shall accept the amount transferred to the institution under Education Code, § 54.765(c), when the unit or units are redeemed as payment for all or the applicable portion of the beneficiary's tuition and required fees.(b) To pay for the entire cost of undergraduate resident tuition and required fees for an academic year consisting of 30 semester credit hours:(1) redemption of 100 Type I tuition units (or an approximate equivalent amount of Type II or III units) is required at the general academic teaching institution with the highest tuition and fee cost as described by Education Code, § 54.753(d);(2) redemption of 100 Type II tuition units (or an approximate equivalent amount of Type I or III units) is required at a general academic teaching institution with the applicable tuition and fee cost at the Weighted Average as described by Education Code, § 54.753(e); and(3) redemption of 100 Type III units (or an approximate equivalent amount of Type I or II units) is required at a two-year institution of higher education with the applicable tuition and fee cost at the Weighted Average as described by Education Code, § 54.753(f).(c) The number of tuition units that must be redeemed to pay for the entire cost of tuition and required fees for an academic year at another general academic teaching institution or two-year institution of higher education may be higher or lower: (1) in proportion to the amount that the cost of tuition and required fees at that institution is higher or lower than the amount determined for the institution with the highest cost or Weighted Average cost, as applicable; or(2) if a more or less valuable type of tuition unit is redeemed.(d) To assist purchasers in determining the number of tuition units a beneficiary must redeem to cover the costs of tuition and required fees at general academic teaching institutions and two-year institutions of higher education, each year the board shall prepare a tuition unit redemption chart and will post the chart on the board's Internet website. The chart will show for each general academic teaching institution and for each two-year institution of higher education the number of each type of units purchased that year that would be required to cover the cost of tuition and required fees, based on an academic year consisting of 30 semester credit hours.(1) The exact amount of tuition units that will be required to attend a particular institution will depend upon the cost of tuition and required fees at the institution in the year of redemption.(2) For Type I tuition units, the number of units required to attend a particular institution may be less than anticipated when purchased if that institution's costs are less than the general academic teaching institution with the highest tuition and fee cost in the year of redemption.(3) For Type II and III tuition units, the number of units required to attend a particular institution may be more or less than anticipated when purchased, and will depend on whether that institution's costs are higher or lower than the Weighted Average cost in the year of redemption. To the extent the cost of a particular institution is higher than the Weighted Average cost, the beneficiary will have to redeem additional tuition units to cover the higher cost, or pay the amount of the difference as provided in subsection (e) of this section.(e) If a beneficiary redeems fewer tuition units of the type or combination of types necessary to pay the total cost of the beneficiary's tuition and required fees at the general academic teaching institution, two-year institution of higher education, private or independent institution of higher education, medical and dental unit, career school, or accredited out-of-state institution of higher education at which the beneficiary enrolls, the beneficiary is responsible for paying the amount of the difference between the amount of tuition and required fees for which the beneficiary pays through the redemption of one or more tuition units and the total cost of the beneficiary's tuition and required fees at the institution.(f) A beneficiary who redeems Type III tuition units (or an approximate equivalent amount of Type I or II units) to attend a public junior college and who does not reside within the taxing jurisdiction of the junior college is responsible for paying any portion of the tuition charged by the junior college to persons who do not reside within that taxing jurisdiction.(g) A beneficiary or purchaser may not redeem a tuition unit earlier than the third anniversary of the date the unit was purchased. (1) For the purpose of calculating the three-year holding period for an initial Pay-As-You-Go purchase, the first payment due date after initially enrolling in the program is considered the date the initial units were purchased. These units may not be redeemed to pay for tuition and required fees until the third anniversary after the payment due date.(2) For installment plan payments, the three-year holding period is considered met if the purchaser enrolls in the program and the first payment due date is at least three years prior to any redemption of tuition units, and the installment plan is paid in full before redemption of any of the tuition units.(3) Additional Pay-As-You-Go purchases start a new three-year holding period as of the date payment is received for the additional tuition units.(4) Under the three-year holding period, the latest date that a purchaser could purchase tuition units to pay for a semester of undergraduate education using Pay-As-You-Go purchases is three years prior to the date of expected redemption of the tuition units, subject to the requirement that all tuition units under the contract must be used not later than the 10th anniversary of the date the beneficiary is projected to graduate from high school, not counting time spent by the beneficiary as an active duty member of the United States armed services.(5) If all of the tuition units in an account do not meet the three-year holding period, the purchaser may redeem those units or fractional units that meet the three-year holding period, and redeem the remaining tuition units in the account when the three-year holding period is met.(h) A beneficiary may redeem more than 100 tuition units in one academic year of the type or combination of types as needed to pay the total cost of the beneficiary's tuition and required fees at an eligible educational institution.(i) To accommodate part-time attendance or the enrollment in more or less semester hours than the contemplated 30 credit hours in an academic year, the board may calculate a per credit hour tuition unit cost for the eligible educational institution applicable to the year of redemption, whereby the number of tuition units required to be redeemed shall be in proportion to the amount that tuition and required fees to be charged to the beneficiary by the eligible educational institution are more or less costly than the cost for attending two semesters of 15 credit hours each or 30 total credit hours in an academic year.(j) A beneficiary may redeem fractional tuition units as needed to pay the cost of the beneficiary's tuition and required fees at an eligible educational institution.34 Tex. Admin. Code § 7.125
The provisions of this §7.125 adopted to be effective August 27, 2008, 33 TexReg 6957; amended to be effective September 21, 2010, 35 TexReg 8503; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 45, Number 14, April 3, 2020, TexReg 2317, eff. 4/5/2020