(a) Each institution of higher education shall identify in its undergraduate catalog each lower-division course that is substantially equivalent to an academic course listed in the current edition of the Lower Division Academic Course Guide Manual.     
      (b) Each institution of higher education that offers lower-division courses must offer at least 45 semester credit hours of academic courses that are substantially equivalent to courses listed in the Lower Division Academic Course Guide Manual including those that fulfill the lower-division portion of the institution's core curriculum.     
      (c) All institutions of higher education must accept transfer of credit for successfully completed courses identified in subsections (a) and (b) of this section as applicable to an associate or baccalaureate degree in the same manner as credit awarded to non-transfer students in that degree program.     
      (d) Each institution must accept the same number of lower-division semester credit hours from transfer students as required for non-transfer students in the same baccalaureate program; however,      
        (1) An institution is not required to accept in transfer more semester credit hours in the major area of a degree program than the number set out in any applicable Board-approved Field of Study Curriculum for that program.       
        (2) In any degree program for which there is no Board-approved Field of Study Curriculum, an institution is not required to accept in transfer more lower-division course credit in the major applicable to a baccalaureate degree than the institution allows their non-transfer students in that major.       
        (3) An institution of higher education is not required to transfer credit in courses in which the student earned a "D" in the student's Field of Study Curriculum courses, Core Curriculum courses, or major.       
      (e) Each institution of higher education that admits undergraduate transfer students shall provide support services appropriate to meet the needs of transfer students. These support services should be comparable to those provided to non-transfer students regularly enrolled at the institution, including an orientation program similar to that provided for entering freshman enrollees.     
      (f) An institution of higher education is not required to accept in transfer, or apply toward a degree program, more than sixty-six (66) semester credit hours of lower-division academic credit. Institutions of higher education, however, may choose to accept additional semester credit hours.     
      (g) Each institution of higher education shall permit a student who transfers from another Texas public institution of higher education to choose a catalog for the purpose of specifying graduation requirements, based upon the dates of attendance at the receiving institution and at the transferring institution, in the same manner that a non-transfer student may choose a catalog. Each Texas public institution of higher education shall include information about graduation requirements under a particular catalog in its official publications, including print and electronic catalogs.     
     Source Note:        The provisions of this §4.25 adopted to be effective April 8, 2021, 46 TexReg 2209