Base/ Formula Funding:  Our highest priority is additional funding for the basic, on-going operations of our general academic institutions, health science center and agencies through the formulas.   The formula funding ensures that our institutions can provide high quality teaching and support services for our growing student populations to prepare them for the workforce.

Tuition Revenue Bonds:  While we are maximizing the use of our existing facilities and expanding online course offerings, the demand for new classrooms, labs and technologies continues to increase.  Additional funding for new facilities and technology is critical in preparing students to compete in a knowledge-based economy. Unfortunately, the state has not been able to provide any additional TRB support since 2006.  With the current low interest rates and construction costs, this is an ideal time to invest in higher education facilities.  We request authorization for our institutions’ tuition revenue bond requests in order to meet the needs of our students and the state.

EmpowerU:  System-wide Student Success Initiative ($29m):  University graduates fuel the economic and social growth of the state, and the Texas A&M University System is committed to assuring its students progress to be successful, work-ready graduates.  However, students come to Texas A&M University System institutions with varied and significant needs, creating obstacles to that success.  Collectively, the student success initiatives of the A&M System target challenges faced by our students.  The A&M System requested funding will allow us to not only implement and expand these student success initiatives, but equally important to also track and account for their progress through EmpowerU.

Competitive Knowledge Fund:  The Competitive Knowledge Fund is a key performance-based formula initiative that helps Texas A&M hire and retain high-achieving faculty for teaching and research.  Last session, the Legislature was able to fund the formula so that eligible institutions received $700,000 per $10 million in total research expenditures—a reduction from $1 million for every $10 million in total research expenditures. We request that the Competitive Knowledge Fund formula be funded to provide $1 million for every $10 million in total research expenditures for each qualified institution.

Support for A&M Agencies:  Our A&M Agencies need base funding support much in the same manner as the formulas that provide basic, on-going support for the academics and health related institutions.  Additionally, the A&M Agencies have a number of exceptional items that address a broad range of state needs:  infrastructure (transportation and water), emergency response, and public and animal health.

Student Financial Aid:  Increased support for student financial aid is vitally important for our students and families, and we support increased funding for state financial aid programs, especially TEXAS Grants.

Hazlewood:  The existing Hazlewood exemption and the expanded Hazlewood Act, which provides tuition exemptions for the dependents of military veterans, have dramatically increased since 2009.  We believe this worthwhile expense is an obligation of the state, rather than an expense to be transferred and absorbed through other students’ tuition and fee payments.

An investment in our higher education system is an investment in our economy, benefiting our students, our state and the nation. But the facts are clear. There is a higher education gap in Texas that must be filled.

The unemployment rate today for adults with only a high school diploma is more than double the rate for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher. And those with a bachelor’s degree can expect to earn 84 percent more on average over their lifetime. But between now and 2018, Texas will need to fill about 4 million jobs of which more than 2 million will require college credentials. Yet only 31.4 percent of Texans age 25 and older have completed an associate’s degree or higher.

The future demands more from all of us. We must work harder to provide affordable degree plans offering the academic preparation, and career and technology training that employers demand and that students need for economic opportunity.

There is good news for Texas: enrollment is up at both two- and four-year public colleges and universities. In fact, enrollment in Texas community colleges has increased almost 30 percent since the start of the recession in 2008.

We are making progress, but obstacles still exist in Texas higher education. Young Hispanics continue to be underrepresented, economically disadvantaged high school graduates are less likely to enroll in college, and four-year college completion rates lag.

Virtually every university in Texas and across the nation is looking for new ways to deliver more value and to ensure multiple pathways to learning. There is no one-size-fits-all system of higher education, but The Texas A&M University System is leading the way with innovative and collaborative methods to control costs while improving the quality of education provided.

Though a unique partnership of Texas A&M System colleges and area community colleges, three new affordable degree programs will be offered beginning at $9,800. These programs include a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Tarleton State University, a Bachelor of Applied Sciences in organizational leadership offered through a partnership of Texas A&M University–Commerce and South Texas College, and a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences in information technology with an emphasis on information security offered through Texas A&M University–San Antonio and Alamo Colleges.

These new degree programs target the needs of employers while leveraging the resources of each partnering college to create seamless pathways to an affordable degree. Success will be measured by the value created in terms of economic opportunities for our students and our state. And these degree programs are only the first of many steps.

As public educators, we have accountability to students, parents, taxpayers and employers. Higher education must be focused on accessibility, affordability and adaptability to fill the gap. The openness to new ideas starts at the top with administrators and flows down to individual students and classrooms. At the Texas A&M System, we are listening.

The Texas A&M System has enormous potential to achieve sustained greatness as one of the premier public university systems in the nation — and in the world. Our flagship, Texas A&M University, already stands among the nation’s top research universities for total research expenditures and is the only Texas institution of higher education listed in the National Science Foundation’s top 20.

It is our mission to expand that reputation and deliver the most accessible, the most affordable and the most adaptable higher education solutions to meet the needs of Texas students and employers for years to come.