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Higher Education
Coverage of universities, colleges, student issues, and education policy shaping Texas’ campuses, from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Demographics
Charles Miller: The TT Interview
The former chairman of the UT System Board of Regents on why demography is destiny, why higher education isn’t necessarily the key determinant of the state’s economic future, why Texas doesn’t need more tier-one schools and how colleges abuse the financial aid system.
Posted in
Higher Education
Accountability U.
Like a conglomerate auditing balance sheets, the Texas A&M University System has for six months been dissecting the financial contribution of every faculty member on its 11 campuses around the state, subtracting the salary of each from the tuition and research money he or she brings in. The resulting metrics present in stark detail exactly where the system gets the most and least bang for its payroll buck — and have raised the hackles of professors at all levels, who liken the approach to grading assembly-line workers on widget production.
Posted in
Higher Education
Should Everybody Go to College?
Ask anybody — from the president of the United States to your high school guidance counselor — and you’ll probably hear the same, seemingly obvious thing: Higher education is the key to financial advancement. But is everybody going to college a realistic goal? And would the world really be better if we achieved it? Mose Buchele of KUT News reports.
Posted in
Energy
Green Horns
When Longhorn football kicks off at home this month, so will a brand-new marketing effort urging boosters to buy, of all things, green electricity. Colt McCoy’s family has already signed up with Texas Longhorns Energy, which promises customers 100 percent power from Texas wind. The Aggies will roll out a similar deal on Friday. The programs are another sign of the universities’ branding heft — even though they may not be the best deal within the confusing Texas electricity market.
Posted in
Economy
Reopening the Gaps
Nothing has helped Texas “close the gaps” of higher education achievement more than financial aid for low-income students. But with coming budget cuts, tens of thousands of students could lose out on the state’s largest and most generous financial aid program.
Posted in
Higher Education
TribBlog: Institute for Creation Research Ends Legal Fight
The Institute for Creation Research has ended its fight with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which denied the Dallas-based Christian school the authority to offer master’s degrees in science education.
Posted in
Higher Education
TribBlog: Billionaire Former Regent on Donor-Appointees
“The whole idea that the big donors give [Gov. Rick Perry] money and get the appointment in return? My gosh, spare me,” says billionaire former University of Texas Regent Robert Rowling. “I already had good football tickets — you know what I’m saying?”
Posted in
Higher Education
Data App: Regents Who Give
Over the past decade, the men and women chosen by Rick Perry to serve as regents of the state’s universities have given his campaigns a total of at least $5.8 million, according to a Texas Tribune analysis.
Posted in
Higher Education
Off-Base?
The Texas commission charged with aiding economies hit by military base closures will spend millions for a vaccine plant in Bryan-College Station — even though the region’s military base closed nearly five decades ago.