Relating to the exemption of tuition and laboratory fees at public institutions of higher education for certain paramedics.

Tuition relief for Texas public-sector paramedics

Beginning with fall 2025 charges, Texas public colleges must waive tuition and lab fees for qualifying paramedics taking covered emergency medical services courses. Students must work as paramedics for a Texas local government or other political subdivision. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board must set education or certification requirements, eligibility rules, and a uniform covered-degree list. Students must meet their college’s financial-aid standard for satisfactory progress toward a degree or certificate to keep the waiver. The waiver excludes loaned-property security deposits, specified extra undergraduate tuition, and extra doctoral tuition for exceeding credit-hour limits. For online-only courses, colleges need not give waivers to more than 20% of each course’s maximum enrollment. The board must also set distance-learning exclusion rules, including the maximum number of courses that can be excluded. It must adopt the required rules as soon as practicable after the law takes effect. Charges for terms before fall 2025 remain under prior law.