TDCJ Admission Information

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS AND PROCEDURES

Trinity Valley Community College (TVCC) maintains an open-door admissions policy and constantly strives to provide programs beneficial to all students. The following requirements must be met, and procedures completed before admission is approved.

BEGINNING FRESHMAN

Students enrolling in college for the first time may qualify for admission by any one of the following methods:

1. Graduation from an accredited high school,
2. Presenting a notarized record of the high school equivalent work completed and the date of successful completion or satisfactory completion of the General Educational Developmental Test (GED).

Beginning freshmen who wish to pursue an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree  must submit the following documents before registration:

1. A completed “Application for Admission” form,
2. Verification by the TDCJ of high school transcript or GED (copy for file),
3. ¹Official Texas Success Initiative (TSI) test results or results from an approved alternative test. The cost for a TDCJ student to take the TSI test is $20 and arrangements to take the test can be made through the TVCC enrollment staff.

TRANSFER STUDENTS

Students who have previously attended and earned hours at other accredited colleges may qualify for admission if the following documents are submitted:

1. A completed "Application of Admission" form,
2. An official transcript of grades and credits at all colleges previously attended, English translation of transcripts is required.
3. ¹Official Texas Success Initiative (TSI) test results or results from an approved alternative test.

All TDCJ students must be approved by TVCC at the appropriate unit. Final clearance and approval for students to enroll in college courses is given by TDCJ. The College shall recognize and use the offender’s TDCJ incarcerated name on all class rosters, registration and billing documents, graduation lists, diplomas, and any other official college correspondence.

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If a student is required to take the TSI Test and does not receive the minimum required scores on the TSI Test or an approved alternative test, he will be required to enroll in prescribed developmental studies courses and remain in such courses until he has satisfied the College’s developmental policy.

ACADEMIC FRESH START

Texas Senate Bill 1321, entitled “Right to an Academic Fresh Start” allows a person who is a resident of Texas to apply for undergraduate admission and not have coursework completed 10 or more years prior to the date of anticipated enrollment included as a consideration in the admission decision. This allows undergraduate students to begin a new course of study with a clear academic record.

Note: This is an “all or nothing” option. You are not able to pick and choose which courses to ignore and which courses to count. If you choose the “Academic Fresh Start” option, you will not receive any credit for courses you took 10 or more years ago.

This means that:

• Courses taken previously cannot be used to fulfill new prerequisite requirements
• Course taken previously cannot be counted towards your new degree
• Courses taken previously will not be counted in your new GPA calculations