Bracing for possible cuts to financial aid after a directive to curb spending, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is planning to ask lawmakers to set aside additional dollars to offset impacts to students.
Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows instructed state agencies to cut spending by 3% ahead of the next legislative session as a starting point for budget deliberations. For Texas’ higher education agency, that means trimming $77 million over a biennium.
Most of the higher education budget is made up of dollars that trickle down from the state to its community colleges and universities. THECB officials said at a board meeting Wednesday that the cuts likely cannot be entirely absorbed from internal operations, and that some student and institutional programs will likely be affected.
“We will have to look at at cuts both within operations and administration, but also in some of these trustee programs and funds that we send to institutions and students,”
Sarah Keyton, the deputy commissioner for administration and operations for THECB, said. “We’ll be looking at options to minimize the amount of the cut that we need to take in mission critical programs.”
In an effort to wall off the state’s major scholarship and grant programs from damage, THECB officials said Wednesday they plan to ask lawmakers for more money on top of that reduced base.
They plan to seek “exceptional item” funding to bolster need-based aid programs such as Texas Grant, the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant and the Tuition Equalization Grant, which helps students pay tuition at universities, community colleges, and private institutions respectively. THECB also plans to ask for extra money to sustain expanded cohorts and award sizes in scholarship programs, including the Texas Leadership Scholars and the Texas Armed Services Scholarship.
State lawmakers during the last legislative session agreed to fund about two-thirds of students eligible for state financial aid in response to a similar exceptional item.
The directive to cut 3% of the base budget comes as Texas public colleges are already cutting costs amid rising expenses, enrollment declines and uncertainty over federal research grants. State schools have kept undergraduate tuition and fees flat since the 2023-24 school year, restricting one tool they can use to offset funding cuts.
To prepare for cuts, UT Arlington, UT Tyler and the University of North Texas have offered employee buyouts. UNT also announced plans to cut or consolidate more than 70 academic programs as it works to close a $45 million budget shortfall driven by declining international student enrollment and reduced state funding.
The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
Disclosure: Dan Patrick, Open Campus and the University of North Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in The Texas Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
