Information concerning registration may be obtained from the Academic Calendar provided in this publication or from the Registrar’s Office. Detailed registration procedures are included in the Schedule of Classes which is published twice each year - Summer School/Fall Semester, Spring Semester. Copies of the Schedule of Classes may be obtained from the Registrar’s Office, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions or the schedule may be viewed on the Internet: www.shsu.edu.

In order to provide assistance in educational planning to various high schools and community colleges, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions furnishes information on the programs and facilities offered at Sam Houston State University. Additionally, programs are planned by this office to enhance the individual student’s academic and social growth upon enrollment as a beginning student. In marketing the University, this office assembles descriptive departmental brochures for individuals and groups.

Prospective college students or interested groups are encouraged to contact the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to obtain additional information. Telephone: (936) 294-1844 or 1828.

In 1987, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 2182 requiring students entering any Texas public community college or university in Fall 1989 or later to take the TASP Test. The TASP is designed to ensure that all students attending public colleges and/or universities in Texas have the reading, mathematics, and writing skills necessary to perform effectively in college-level course work. The TASP Test must be taken before a student will be allowed to register for any courses.

The Texas Education Code (TEC 51.306[e]) stipulates that a student whose performance is below standard for a tested area (on the TASP Test) must participate continuously in a remediation program until that section of the test is passed. Failure to regularly attend required remedial/developmental courses can result in the student being resigned from the University.

As a result of legislation and subsequent Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board action, the following changes have occurred in the TASP. (July, 1995; July, 1997)

Deaf and Blind Students

Blind and deaf students who completed three semester credit hours prior to Fall 1995 are exempt from the provisions of the Texas Academic Skills Program. Beginning Fall 1995, blind students will be required to take the TASP Test with proper accommodations such as large print, Braille audio cassettes, or readers. Deaf students will be required to take the Stanford Achievement Test as nationally normed on the hearing-impaired population by Gallaudet University.

TASP Test Exemptions

Beginning in fall, 1993, Senate Bill 1324 permits exemptions from the TASP Test if students perform at or above a level set by the Coordinating Board on the American College Test (ACT), Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), or Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). At its July, 1997 meeting, the Coordinating Board revised the standards for exemptions under this law:

ACT - Composite score of 23 with a minimum of 19 on both the English and mathematics tests; or

SAT - Combined verbal and mathematics score of 1070 with a minimum of 500 on both the verbal and the mathematics tests (recentered scale for tests taken April 1995 and thereafter); or

SAT - For tests taken prior to April 1995, a combined verbal and mathematics score of 970, with a minimum 420 on the verbal test and 470 on the mathematics test; or

TAAS - A minimum scaled score of 1770 on the writing test, a Texas Learning Index (TOI) of 86 on the math test and 89 on the reading test.

Individual institutions will determine exemptions due to ACT, SAT or TAAS using the score requirements specified above. Students who meet any of the above score requirements may be exempted from TASP requirements even if they were already in remediation due to TASP. Once a student meets one of the exemption requirements, he/she will continue to be exempt. None of the above precludes an institution using local placement tests to place students into remediation until institutional requirements are met.

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