The most talked-about higher-education bills of the legislative session didn’t go anywhere.
No limits were set on tuition. You still can’t carry a concealed handgun on a college campus.
But other decisions will affect the state’s public universities for years to come. At the top of everyone’s list: Schools will get at least 4 percent more in base state funding, more than twice that for some schools.
The University of Texas at Austin will be allowed to turn away some students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class, starting in 2011. The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston received $300 million in supplemental spending and special bonds to speed its recovery from Hurricane Ike, on top of a 20 percent boost in base state funding.
And the University of Houston and six other so-called emerging research universities finally have a shot at additional state money to help them reach the ranks of the nation’s best colleges.
“I’m tickled to death,” said Welcome Wilson Sr., chairman of the UH board of regents.
Of course, nothing is final.
“It’s a little too soon to declare victory,” said Terry Pankratz, vice president for finance at Texas A&M University. “We want to respect the governor’s signature authority.”
The flagship A&M campus in College Station received $28.9 million more in base state funding than it did two years ago, up 7 percent. Texas A&M-Galveston also received $6.2 million for hurricane repairs, Pankratz said.
No tuition freezes
Most universities had delayed setting tuition for next fall, waiting to see what happened with more than a dozen proposals to freeze tuition or restrict any increases.
None passed. But more students will receive financial aid, thanks to a $186 million expansion of the Texas Grants program. That will cover an additional 35,000 students but still will reach just over half of those who qualify.
Universities get the bulk of their state money through formula funding, and the new budget adds about $200 million over the next two years.
UH breakthrough
Schools with flat enrollment, including UT-Austin, are guaranteed a 4 percent increase.
Texas Southern University, which has seen enrollment drop 20 percent over the past few years, received a 4 percent boost, as well.
All four UH campuses received more than twice that, including 9.9 percent for the central campus.
But Wilson said the big breakthrough for UH — along with the state’s other emerging research universities, including Texas Tech, UT-Dallas and the University of North Texas — came with the approval of a set of bills describing how the schools can become tier-one universities.
Texas now has just three: UT-Austin, A&M University and Rice University, which is private.
That’s a concern, many legislators argued this spring, because thousands of Texas students leave the state every year because they can’t get into a tier-one school here.
The bills provide funding for emerging research universities which meet specific criteria.
One allows voters to decide in November whether to use money from an existing but untapped state fund valued at almost $500 million to elevate those schools.
Another details what criteria the schools must meet to receive the additional money.
Rule applies only to UT
None of the seven schools meet all of the criteria, which include: awarding 200 doctoral degrees over a two-year period, maintaining an endowment of at least $400 million, membership in the Association of Research Libraries or a campus chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, and annual expenditures of at least $45 million in restricted research funding.
Wilson said UH meets the first three requirements and is close on the fourth.
Many bills were tailored to specific schools.
Changes to the law promising students in the top 10 percent of their high school class admission to any public university in Texas applies only to UT-Austin.
About 84 percent of UT’s 2009 freshman class will be admitted under the law, spokesman Don Hale said. A&M fills about half its freshman class with top 10 percent students.
UT wanted stricter limits, but Hale said capping top 10 percent enrollment at 75 percent will help.
$450 million from FEMA
UTMB received special attention because of Hurricane Ike.
Dr. Ben Raimer, senior vice president for health policy and legislative affairs at UTMB said $150 million in supplemental funding will allow UTMB to draw $450 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, while $150 million in tuition revenue bonds will allow it to pull in a $200 million grant from the Sealy & Smith Foundation.
That will provide money to rebuild the campus and an adjacent surgical and hospital tower, he said.
The additional base funding will help UTMB reopen its trauma center.
It plans to reopen as a Level 3 trauma center by mid-summer and return to Level 1 — the highest rating — by Jan. 1.
The additional money will allow UTMB to move into the future, Raimer said. “It’s going to take time. It’s not flipping a switch,” he said.
SOME UNIVERSITIES HAD SPECIFIC REQUESTS, INCLUDING:
• University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston: $110 million bump in state funding for the next two years, along with $150 million in supplemental funding and an additional $150 million in tuition revenue bonds.
• University of Texas-Austin: Allowed to cap enrollment of students graduating in the top 10 percent of their high school class at 75 percent of the freshman class, beginning in fall 2011.
• University of Houston-Victoria: • Authorized to offer freshman and sophomore-level classes, beginning in fall 2010. The University of Houston-Clear Lake had announced plans for a similar downward expansion but pulled the request, saying it would wait until 2011 so it can concentrate on a new branch campus in Pearland.
• Texas Southern University: • Base state funding jumped 4 percent, despite a 20 percent drop in enrollment. Also received $9.8 million in supplemental funding for repairs from Hurricane Ike.
• Texas A&M University-Central Texas in Killeen and Texas A&M University-San Antonio: Designated as stand-alone universities; they previously were branches of Tarleton State University and Texas A&M University-Kingsville, respectively.