Students from UT, Texas A&M University, Texas State University, Texas Tech University and the University of Houston united at the Texas Capitol on Tuesday to lobby for higher education funding.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is asking the Texas Legislature to allocate $719.6 million to the TEXAS Grant Program. Currently, the program only gives grants to 22 percent of eligible freshmen. With the new changes, the program could reach up to 90 percent of freshmen.
The bills would bring UT-Brownsville, UT-Pan American and the Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen under the administration of one institution and grant access to the Permament University Fund.
Gov. Rick Perry touted Texas as “stronger than ever” in his State of State Address and called on legislators to begin using the state’s largely untouched Rainy Day Fund.
Every legislative session, higher education officials testify before the Legislature to vouch for funding, explain projects and provide insight into legislative proposals on higher education policy.
The bill, filed Friday, would prohibit universities from charging students who graduate on time a tuition rate higher than the one charged furing their first semester or term at a university.
Records from the Texas Workforce Commission indicate that unemployment rates across Texas have recently fallen to their lowest percentages since 2008, while unemployment rates in Austin slightly increased between November and December 2012.
