May 4, 2011

Brian Cuaron

Money set aside to lobby for legislation changing the University of Houston-Victoria into a Texas A&M University school has remained untouched, politically and fiscally.

Victoria Councilman David Hagan tried to pass a motion Tuesday that would've rescinded the unspent $100,000 the city and the Victoria Sales Tax Development board allocated for the lobbying. Yet that money can't be rescinded unless the development board also votes to do so.

May 3, 2011

Dave Player

Today's viewpoint centers on a memo authored by UT System Board of Regents chairman Gene Powell. Powell, who was elected in February, has already made quite a splash. In just a few months, he has hired a controversial adviser, endorsed the governor's call for a $10,000 bachelor's degree and compared different UT System universities to models of cars.

The Austin American-Statesman's Ralph Haurwitz wrote that:

May 4, 2011

Melissa Ludwig

He'd like to see it reduced by half at all of the system's schools, including UTSA.

Gene Powell, a San Antonio businessman who chairs the University of Texas System Board of Regents, would like to reduce tuition by about 50 percent across system institutions, including UTSA, according to an April 7 memo obtained by the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle.

Powell also suggests increasing enrollment at UT-Austin by 10 percent per year beginning in 2013, and by an unspecified figure at all other campuses.

May 3, 2011

Ralph K.M. Haurwitz

Debate over the direction of the University of Texas System intensified Tuesday when the chairwoman of the state Senate Higher Education Committee dismissed suggestions to cut tuition and increase enrollment by the chairman of the system's Board of Regents as "ludicrous."

The chairman of the House Higher Education Committee also expressed concern, as did a vice chairman of the regents who oversees academic affairs.

May 4, 2011

Reeve Hamilton

There's a substantial cash prize awaiting Texas' seven emerging research universities, if they can meet the state's criteria to be considered "tier one." But there's no way to get at it right now, and there won't be unless they can all reach an agreement.

With the approval of Texas voters in November 2009, the dormant Higher Education Fund was converted into the National Research University Fund, currently valued at approximately $613 million. To gain access to the fund, universities must meet several benchmarks.

Rep. Branch welcomed a group of 7th grade students, as well as their teachers and parents, from the Christ the King Students to the State Capitol on April 28, 2011 and May 12th, 2011.