AUSTIN — Texas universities are at a critical juncture, the state’s top higher education official said Tuesday, as he pleaded with state senators to save financial aid programs and other funding for cash-strapped colleges.
“We have to invest in the young people that are coming through the pipeline,” Higher Education Coordinating Board Commissioner Raymund Paredes told the Senate Finance Committee. “They are largely poor, largely first generation, largely of color. They will drive the economy of Texas.”
With the state facing a budget shortfall that could reach $27 billion, Paredes said, universities are willing to accept cuts in some areas if a substantial increase in financial aid is considered. He emphasized the Texas grants program, which provides the most aid for low-income college students.
In the Senate’s budget proposal, the program is cut by 40 percent, which would mean that about 60,000 eligible students would not receive the grant each year used to combat skyrocketing tuition costs. The program already lacks funding to serve all eligible students.
Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, said the Legislature should take $1 billion out of the rainy day fund for higher education.
“I disagree with our governor,” said Lucio, whose district has more Texas grant students than any other. “We will have gloomy days and based on everything that has happened at this point, our higher education will go down the tube.”
Paredes said helping Texas gain more Tier One research institutions is a priority.
But Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said the mission of higher education should be to educate undergraduates, not necessarily focus on research. Patrick said the current cost of higher education is not sustainable.
“Why is it getting so expensive in Texas for students to go to college? It’s not just out of reach of poor, it’s out of reach for the middle class,” Patrick said. “I don’t see the costs coming down.”
Paredes agreed that higher education needed to “reinvent” efficiency models by cutting the number of lower-level courses offered, increasing faculty productivity and make the state fund 10 percent of total appropriations based on graduation rates instead of enrollment.
“There is no question we can have cost efficiencies. We can do better with more resources,” Paredes said.
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