Contracts
Review agreements with application portals (e.g., ApplyTexas, Common App) and third-party payment processors immediately. Ensure contracts do not mandate per-transaction fees for $0 charges, or renegotiate terms to exempt the mandatory waiver week from minimum processing fees.
Hiring/Training
Admissions departments must prepare for a significant application volume spike in mid-October. Adjust staffing schedules to manage the processing bottleneck that will occur immediately following the waiver period. IT staff must be trained to deploy and revert fee-waiver logic strictly according to the statutory timeframe.
Reporting & Record-Keeping
IT systems must log precise submission timestamps (down to the second) to distinguish between billable applications and waived applications. Maintain these logs for THECB audits to prove that all applications submitted between 12:00 AM on the first day and 11:59 PM on the last day received the waiver.
Fees & Costs
Institutions must remove application fee revenue from October 2025 financial forecasts. This is a direct loss of Institutional Funds. Additionally, budget for potential operational costs if vendors charge for processing "zero-dollar" transactions.
