With high costs facing South Texas College students who wish to seek four-year degrees not available in the Valley the House of Representatives on Tuesday April 28 passed a bill by Rep. Ismael Kino Flores D-Palmview that would make it easier for any of the states public universities including the most prestigious systems to offer academic courses in deep South Texas.
House Bill 3308 by Flores for the first time would allow STC or any of the other 49 community colleges in Texas to partner with the likes of the University of Texas at Austin Texas A&M and Texas Tech University the largest public higher education systems in the state to provide crucial academic programs at the local level.
STC features five major campuses three in McAllen one in Weslaco and one in Rio Grande City which combined serve more than 20000 students.
HB 3308 would authorize STC and all other junior college (community college) districts to set up new education partnerships designed to benefit their constituents.
According to the bill analysis of the measure HB 3308 amends the Education Code to remove the condition that an institution of higher education have a campus or other educational facility located in the same state uniform service region as a junior college district in order for the board of trustees of the junior college district to enter into a cooperative agreement with the governing body of the institution of higher education regarding the operation and use of a dual usage educational complex established by the junior college district.
If approved by the Senate and signed into law by the governor HB 3308 would represent a major step forward in the development of partnerships between community colleges and the states public university system.
Under a current law which Sen. Zaffirini (D-Laredo) and I passed in 2005 a community college can team up with local universities to offer academic courses Flores said. Under this proposed law any public university in Texas can team up with STC at the local level.
He said there are thousands of university courses statewide that are not offered by UT-Pan American and UT-Brownsville. HB 3308 would help increase the number of university-level courses available for South Texas students.
Flores sees the day in the not-too-distance future that the states flagship universities UT Austin and Texas A&M will be pressed to offer academic courses outside of their hometowns.
A flagship university is generally defined as a states most prestigious and wealthiest institutions which offered the most academic programs.
House Bill 3308 would also help out the states universities efforts to bring more Hispanics into the fold Flores said.
Despite their efforts to boost the number of Hispanic and other minority students UT and A&M continue to fall short of having a student body that reflects the diversity of Texas he said.
In Texas Mexican Americans make up more than one-third of the states population. But that figure is not reflected in the student enrollment at UT and A&M.
According to a recent story by the Houston Chronicle only 16 percent of students at UT Austin are Hispanic.
In the Spring of 2008 only about eight percent of the students at Texas A&M are Hispanic.
A big part of that problem Flores contends is that many Valley students simply cannot afford to pull up their roots and move hundreds of miles away from home to get the academic courses they need.
Our South Texas students are more than qualified to attend any of the states universities but with high costs involved with studying away from home they would literally have to mortgage their financial futures by taking out huge student loans to pay their way Flores said.
This bill is part of the South Texas successful efforts in bringing the states higher education resources to our region just like our current plan to create a full-fledged medical school and many other higher education advances secured in the last few years by the Valleys legislative delegation said Flores who was the author of an groundbreaking state law that allowed STC to become one of a handful of community colleges authorized to offer university-level degrees.
Legislative Media reports on major legislation that affects South Texans. For more on this and related stories and photographs please log on to www.EdinburgPolitics.com
With high costs facing South Texas College students who wish to seek four-year degrees not available in the Valley the House of Representatives on Tuesday April 28 passed a bill by Rep. Ismael Kino Flores D-Palmview that would make it easier for any of the states public universities including the most prestigious systems to offer academic courses in deep South Texas.
House Bill 3308 by Flores for the first time would allow STC or any of the other 49 community colleges in Texas to partner with the likes of the University of Texas at Austin Texas A&M and Texas Tech University the largest public higher education systems in the state to provide crucial academic programs at the local level.
STC features five major campuses three in McAllen one in Weslaco and one in Rio Grande City which combined serve more than 20000 students.
HB 3308 would authorize STC and all other junior college (community college) districts to set up new education partnerships designed to benefit their constituents.
According to the bill analysis of the measure HB 3308 amends the Education Code to remove the condition that an institution of higher education have a campus or other educational facility located in the same state uniform service region as a junior college district in order for the board of trustees of the junior college district to enter into a cooperative agreement with the governing body of the institution of higher education regarding the operation and use of a dual usage educational complex established by the junior college district.
If approved by the Senate and signed into law by the governor HB 3308 would represent a major step forward in the development of partnerships between community colleges and the states public university system.
Under a current law which Sen. Zaffirini (D-Laredo) and I passed in 2005 a community college can team up with local universities to offer academic courses Flores said. Under this proposed law any public university in Texas can team up with STC at the local level.
He said there are thousands of university courses statewide that are not offered by UT-Pan American and UT-Brownsville. HB 3308 would help increase the number of university-level courses available for South Texas students.
Flores sees the day in the not-too-distance future that the states flagship universities UT Austin and Texas A&M will be pressed to offer academic courses outside of their hometowns.
A flagship university is generally defined as a states most prestigious and wealthiest institutions which offered the most academic programs.
House Bill 3308 would also help out the states universities efforts to bring more Hispanics into the fold Flores said.
Despite their efforts to boost the number of Hispanic and other minority students UT and A&M continue to fall short of having a student body that reflects the diversity of Texas he said.
In Texas Mexican Americans make up more than one-third of the states population. But that figure is not reflected in the student enrollment at UT and A&M.
According to a recent story by the Houston Chronicle only 16 percent of students at UT Austin are Hispanic.
In the Spring of 2008 only about eight percent of the students at Texas A&M are Hispanic.
A big part of that problem Flores contends is that many Valley students simply cannot afford to pull up their roots and move hundreds of miles away from home to get the academic courses they need.
Our South Texas students are more than qualified to attend any of the states universities but with high costs involved with studying away from home they would literally have to mortgage their financial futures by taking out huge student loans to pay their way Flores said.
This bill is part of the South Texas successful efforts in bringing the states higher education resources to our region just like our current plan to create a full-fledged medical school and many other higher education advances secured in the last few years by the Valleys legislative delegation said Flores who was the author of an groundbreaking state law that allowed STC to become one of a handful of community colleges authorized to offer university-level degrees.
Legislative Media reports on major legislation that affects South Texans. For more on this and related stories and photographs please log on to www.EdinburgPolitics.com
