Sandra Steele, Educational Consultant

Bill Hopes to Support Home-Schooled Students - Rep. says financial aid requirements are discriminatory

By Kathy Adams, The Daily Texan

The House Committee on Higher Education scheduled a heavy load, with 27 bills up for public testimony Monday. One of which was a bill aiming to end financial aid eligibility requirements that discriminate against home-schooled students.

If passed, House Bill 530, authored by state Rep. Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land, will prohibit state institutions of higher education from using high school performance indicators, such as grade point average, in determining financial aid and scholarship eligibility.

The bill will also eliminate the requirement that to be eligible for financial aid students must graduate from an accredited high school.

Howard said this practice discriminates against home-schooled students and students from unaccredited high schools. These students are also well-prepared and deserve eligibility for financial assistance, he said.

"We're not opposed to high standards. We're just opposed to double standards," Howard said.

HB 530 will bring the eligibility for Texas financial aid programs into compliance with federal law, Howard said. According to Howard, in 1998 Congress eliminated the law requiring home-schooled students to take an eligibility test in order to qualify for federal financial aid.

Under the provisions of the bill, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board expects roughly 13,092 more students will be eligible for Texas financial aid programs, such as Texas Grants, which provide college funds for "well-prepared" students according to CollegeForTexans.com, and B-On-Time loans, which are forgiven if a college student graduates on time.

Colleges can still use SAT and ACT scores in determining financial aid and scholarship eligibility as long as the test scores are not the only factors used.

"There's no documentation that correlates school accreditation with school performance," Howard said.

Tom Sanders of the Home School Legal Defense Association was one citizen to testify in favor of the bill.

"[The law] should not interfere with the right of Texas parents to pursue what's best for their child," he said.

According to the bill's fiscal note, it will cost more than $560 million to implement the bill's provisions. HB 530 does not make any monetary appropriations but "will provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill."

Along with many of the other bills discussed, HB 530 was left pending in committee.