By Patrick Brendel
Texas lawmakers passed legislation creating incentives for public colleges to strive toward achieving Tier One research university status. They tweaked the states Top 10 Percent rule for college admissions for the
University of Texas at Austin but balked at completely reforming the system. Legislation to re-regulate college tuition increases failed at the end of the Regular Session.
The state of Texas has two public Tier One research institutions: UT-Austin and
Texas A&M in College Station. (The other Texas Tier One school is the private Rice University in Houston.) In contrast California has nine flagship" schools while New York has five.
Colleges throughout the state are vying for the elite Tier One status and the accompanying prestige and funds. Contenders include the University of Houston Texas Tech University in Lubbock University of North Texas in Denton UT-Arlington UT-Dallas UT-El Paso and UT-San Antonio.
To avoid inciting regional animosity lawmakers shied away from designating particular schools as Tier One instead creating incentives for emerging research universities and a process to achieve Tier One designation.
The legislation establishes three incentive funds that would go to colleges according to research performed number of degrees awarded and amount of private gifts received. The bill is meant to encourage all types of public four-year colleges to improve not just to reward one or two schools with Tier One status.
Schools striving for Tier One status would have to submit detailed long-range strategic plans to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board which is in charge of Tier One designations.
The Tier One legislation also included $150 million in bonds to rebuild the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. The campus was severely damaged by Hurricane Ike last fall. Another related bill allows Texas A&M to start working toward the creation of a four-year college in downtown San Antonio.
Since 1997 Texas high school students graduating in the top 10 percent of their class are guaranteed admission to the public college campus of their choice. The law has been credited with removing disparities in admissions between students from rural and urban areas but has not led to racial equality in freshmen classes.
The University of Texas at Austin has long pushed legislators to change the Top 10 Percent rule citing shrinking flexibility in admissions decisions as it voluntarily attempted to restrain the total number of students enrolled each year. Last fall more than 75 percent of enrolled freshmen were admitted under the Top 10 Percent rule. Almost half of Texas A&Ms fall 2008 freshman class were Top 10 Percent students.
Legislators gave serious consideration to a bill that would have significantly reformed the Top 10 Percent Rule.
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This story is from Community Impact News
Texas lawmakers passed legislation creating incentives for public colleges to strive toward achieving Tier One research university status. They tweaked the states Top 10 Percent rule for college admissions for the University of Texas at Austin but balked at completely reforming the system. Legislation to re-regulate college tuition increases failed at the end of the Regular Session.
