The College provides the following information in response to federal or state mandates or as a service to the College community. Additional information about these and other important topics is available on the TCC website.
Access to Student Records
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (PL93-380), commonly referred to as FERPA, provides that all records pertaining to a student that are maintained by the College must be open to inspection by the student and may not be made available to any other person without the written authorization of the student. FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. A “student” is defined as a person who has registered and paid for one or more Undergraduate (UG) or Continuing Education (CE) courses and who remains enrolled through the official date of record for that term.
The act allows but does not mandate the release of directory information. Under some circumstances, directory information may be released without the student’s written permission. Examples of these circumstances include:
- For legitimate educational purposes within TCC;
- To officials at an institution in which the student seeks to enroll;
- To comply with a court order or subpoena;
- In connection with a health or safety emergency if necessary to protect the student and others;
- To parents of a student who is a dependent for income tax purposes;
- If it is directory information; or
- To parents of a student younger than 21 years of age if the disclosure concerns discipline for violation of the campus drug and alcohol policy.
TCC directory information includes name, current address, major, dates of attendance, full-time or part-time enrollment status, degrees and awards received and dates granted, previous educational institution(s) attended, and eligibility and participation in officially recognized activities and sports. It should be noted that current address and telephone number are considered restricted directory information. These items are released only if a legitimate educational interest is established. NOTE: Email addresses are not considered directory information.
Non-directory information is never released without the student’s official authorization. These items include but are not limited to:
- Enrollment verification
- Grade point average (GPA)
- Academic standing
- Grades or transcripts
A student may request that all items of directory information be kept confidential by contacting the campus Admissions and Registrar office or District Records office. A written request is required. The request may be canceled only upon receipt of the student’s written authorization.
Questions concerning FERPA may be directed to the campus Admissions and Registrar office, the District Records office, or online on the TCC website.
The American Opportunity Credit
Students may be eligible to claim an American Opportunity Credit (AOC) against their federal income taxes. The AOC may be claimed for the qualified tuition and related expenses of students enrolled at least half time for the first four years post-secondary education when enrolled in a program leading to a degree, certificate or other recognized educational credential. Eligible tuition and fees are determined by the IRS and will be offset by any grants, scholarships or refunds received. More information is available at www.irs.gov.
Lifetime Learning Credit
Students may be eligible to claim a Lifetime Learning Credit against their federal income taxes. The Lifetime Learning Credit may be claimed for the qualified tuition and related expenses of students enrolled in eligible educational institutions.
If a student is claiming an American Opportunity Credit, none of that student’s expenses for that year may be applied toward the Lifetime Learning Credit. More information is available at www.irs.gov.
IRS Form 1098-T
Effective for the 2018 tax year, the IRS requires educational institutions to report amounts paid for qualified tuition and related expenses on the Form 1098-T. Due to the new federal regulation, TCC will no longer report tuition billed (Box 2), therefore, TCC will now report tuition paid (Box 1). Please make note of this reporting change when preparing your 2018 taxes and seek assistance from a tax advisor as needed. This update may change due to any new IRS regulations. Refer to the TCC website for the latest updates concerning the IRS Form 1098-T.
In January of each year, an IRS Form 1098-T is made available to all students with payments made during the previous calendar year that are limited to the amount of tuition and other related educational expenses billed for the tax year. This form is informational only and should not be considered as tax opinion or advice. As a requirement of the Taxpayer ACT of 1997, it serves to alert students that they may be eligible for federal income tax education credits. Receipt of the Form 1098-T does not indicate eligibility for the tax credit.
To determine the amount of qualified tuition and fees paid, and the amount of scholarships and grants received, a taxpayer should use their own financial records. Due to IRS regulations, the student must provide a tax identification number (i.e. social security number) to the Admissions and Registrar office. For more information concerning the tax identification number, visit the IRS website. Continuing Education tuition is not included on the 1098-T form.
Students are encouraged to consent to the electronic format to receive immediate access when the form is available to students. TCC will send one mass mailing in January to students who have not selected the electronic format. After the mass mailing in January, all students will obtain their 1098-T online through the TCC website. For further questions, call the 1098T hotline number at (817) 515-1098. Due to privacy laws, TCC can only release generic information by phone to the student.
Selective Service
Almost all males 18 through 25 years of age living in the United States must register with the Selective Service. Almost all non-citizens also are required to register, including illegal aliens, legal permanent residents, and refugees. If a male non-citizen takes up residence in the United States prior to his 26th birthday, he must register. Additional information can be found on the TCC website.
Solomon Amendment
The Solomon Amendment allows military recruiters to request certain recruiting information from institutions about students. Most of the recruiting information data is considered directory information under FERPA or data that would normally be collected by the institution. The 1995/1996 National Defense Authorization Act and the 1997 Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act gave branches of the military access to student information including student’s name, address, telephone number, age or date of birth, class, and major. The Solomon Amendment requires institutions to cooperate and comply with requests from military recruiters for student information.
Student Right to Know - Crime Statistics
The Campus Annual Security Report can be viewed on the TCC website. A printed copy of this report is available on request from any campus police department.
Student Right to Know - Graduation Statistics
Federal law requires that all institutions of higher education disclose graduation rates to students, applicants and potential students. Graduation rates for TCC can be provided upon request to the District Office of Institutional Research.
Students Subject to Additional Tuition and Fees
At this time, Tarrant County College does not require additional charges for either of the following categories of excess hours. TCC is required by law to inform students that charges may be instituted by TCC and/or may be incurred when attending other Texas colleges and universities.
Additional Charges for Students with Excessive Semester Credit Hours
Texas legislation allows state colleges and universities to charge additional tuition and/or fees for students who enter a Texas public higher education institution beginning in fall 1999 and who exceed by more than 45 hours the semester credit hours required for the degree. For undergraduate students initially enrolling fall 2006 or later, the limit is 30 semester credit hours above the number of hours required for the degree. The legislation exempts technical and workforce education courses. At this time, TCC is not charging additional tuition for excessive hours.
Additional Charges for Students Who Exceed 27 Developmental Semester Credit Hours
Texas legislation allows state colleges and universities to charge additional tuition and/or fees for students who exceed 27 semester credit hours in developmental courses. The 27-hour limit does not include any courses in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) that are taken prior to the students’ initial entrance test (i.e., TASP, THEA, TSI Assessment, Compass, MAPS and ASSET). It does not include any courses in study or thinking skills. At this time, TCC is not charging additional tuition for excess developmental hours.
Additional Charges for Repeated Courses
The Texas Legislature eliminated funding to higher education for courses that are attempted three or more times. An attempted course is defined as any course in which a grade is earned on the transcript, including repeated courses and courses dropped with a grade of “W.” Tracking of enrollments is the responsibility of TCC and will begin with enrollments in the Fall 2002 semester. State regulation allows an institution of higher education to charge a higher tuition rate to a student whose hours can no longer be submitted for state funding. Therefore, in order to compensate for this loss of state funding, students attempting a course for the third or more time will be charged a fee of $60 per credit hour for each repeated course. Effective with the Fall 2016 term, students receiving a tuition waiver or exemption will be responsible for paying any additional charges when attempting a course three or more times. The fee is subject to change each year upon action of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Effective with the Fall 2013 term, TCC will charge a higher tuition rate for the following repeated courses:
- Same or substantially similar course content
- Attempted more than twice
- Graded and/or courses dropped after census (A, B, C, D, F, I, W, and in some instances, NC or CR)
Courses exempted from funding limitations include:
- Audit
- Developmental education
- Continuing education
- Repeatable for credit
Degree requirement of final term before TCC graduation. To apply for the exemption based on degree requirements during the final semester before graduation, students should visit the campus Admissions and Registrar office. The exemption applies for only one semester.
Texas Tuition Rebate Program
Section 54.0065 of the Texas Education Code provides that some students may earn a rebate up to $1,000 if they meet the following:
- They have enrolled for the first time in an institution of higher education in the fall 1997 term or later;
- They are requesting a rebate for work related to a first baccalaureate (bachelor’s) degree received from a Texas public university (not a community college degree);
- They have been a resident of Texas, have attempted all coursework at a Texas public institution of higher education and have been entitled to pay resident tuition at all times while pursuing the degree; and
- They have attempted no more than three hours in excess of the minimum number of semester hours required to complete the degree under the catalog under which they were graduated. Hours attempted include transfer credits, course credit earned exclusively by examination, courses that are dropped after the official census date, for-credit developmental courses, optional internship and cooperative education courses, and repeated courses. Courses dropped for reasons that are determined by the institution to be totally beyond the control of the student shall not be counted.
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