Gov. Rick Perry, in his State of the State address Tuesday, urged lawmakers to increase funding for Texas community colleges, especially in the form of financial aid for students. He also endorsed transferring responsibility for developmental education to community colleges and increasing the amount of revenue dedicated to incentive funding. Much of the money would presumably come from cost savings through "reprioritizing."
Reprioritizing Higher Education Funding
Special item funding has increased from $75.9 million in 1986-87 to $1,197.8 million in 2008-09, a 1,479 percent increase. Once funded, many of these special items continue indefinitely, long after the projected termination date. Recommitting these funds to student financial aid would better address the priorities of the state and the needs of students.
I recommend reallocating $645.7 million of special item and excellence funding to increase student financial aid and support other higher education priorities, including a fund, equal to one percent of each system’s funding, to support system priorities as determined by each system’s Chancellor and Board of Regents.
I also recommend transferring responsibility for developmental education from four-year institutions to community colleges. This move would benefit students through lower tuition and would save the state $3.6 million over the biennium.
Financial Aid
From the savings identified above I recommend increasing student financial aid by an additional $110 million for the TEXAS Grant program. This increase will provide TEXAS Grants to all eligible students in 2011. Additionally, to ensure that more of these students are funded, I propose adding merit criteria consistent with the state’s college readiness standards and increasing TEXAS Grant funding. Community colleges play an important role in the state’s higher education system by serving more than 500,000 students across the state. I recommend tripling financial aid funding for community college students by increasing the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant (TEOG) from $14 million in 2008-09 to $42 million in 2010-11. This would serve an estimated additional 8,900 students over the biennium.
I recommend a $110 million increase for TEXAS Grant and a $28 million increase in funding for community college financial aid for the 2010-11 biennium.
Higher Education Incentive Funding
Last session the Texas Legislature committed $80 million to higher education incentive funding. Additional funding would expand the program to give two- and four-year institutions additional rewards for increasing the number of degrees granted, and for graduating at-risk students or awarding degrees in critical areas such as science, engineering and nursing. I recommend a $168.9 million increase for higher education incentive funding for the 2010-11 biennium.
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