In 2023, Community College celebrated its long-awaited investment from the Texas Legislature, positioning Texas and leading a country that connects young people with the workforce.
That year, state lawmakers rethinked how community colleges are being financed under House Bill 8. The old fundraising ceremony awarded the school based on registration. Schools currently need to meet students to graduate. The new formula combines degree and certificate completion, transfer to a four-year university, and participation in dual credit courses for high school students to completion of degrees and certificates.
This effort was born out of the national leader’s desire to better prepare young Texans for the workforce. By 2030, at least 60% of Texas employment will require post-secondary qualifications, but less than 40% of students who have earned a degree or certificate within six years of graduating from high school. For students, post-secondary qualifications often lead to higher wages and increased economic and social mobility.
As part of the near-indifferent vote on HB 8, lawmakers poured historic $683 million into the agency for two years. When money was cheated on by each university in 2024, each university saw an influx of dollars ranging from $70,000 to $2.9 million.
More than a year after the law came into effect, community colleges are working with unprecedented resources to complete the barriers. Some have introduced free tuition benefits. Others expanded their student advice services. These efforts shape how the school runs and who is taking classes.
“HB 8 was a council attempt at its core… “What is the most influential way to ensure alignment between educational outcomes and business and industry needs?” “That’s why this is so important… we’ve seen incredible results.”
Lawmakers are fine-tuning fundraising incentives in this session. Rep. Gary Vandeaver of R-New Boston is shepherd a bill that gives money to community colleges to relocate students to private schools as well as public universities. Community Colleges currently receive bonus dollars when students complete their value qualifications. Or, Credentials that lead to high-demand, high-wage jobs: Vandeaver’s bill adjusts the definition of value qualifications to include more accurate labor market data.
Here are five ways that community colleges have transformed for a new fundraising ceremony:
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During the Covid-19 pandemic, Young Texans have separated community colleges from their plans. One in 10 people in the state, or about 80,000 students, have disappeared from campus.
Economic uncertainty has acutely affected community college students who come from low-income households and are more responsible for work and care than their peers at four-year institutions. Many left school because of low-skilled jobs. Others continued to lose steam.
Community college leaders had to find ways to keep their students alive. And in one big way, growing the pool of high school students who are jumping off to college.
HB 8 makes it easy for low-income students to take dual credit courses. Swift Transfer Program Financial Aid Community College, or at Fast, allows free and reduced lunch-qualified high school students to take classes for free, and get additional funds. Other students receive discounts and have a cost cap of around $55 per credit hour.
Research shows that dual credit students are more likely to graduate from high school, enter college and finish their degrees faster.
Financial aid encouraged an upshot of registration. More than 250,000 students participated in dual credit classes through the 2023-24 grade highway program, according to Sarah Keaton, an interim member of the Texas Higher Education Coordination Committee last fall.
For example, Kilgore University in eastern Texas saw a 36.5% increase in dual credit registrations last year. High school students now make up the majority of students.
Community Colleges do not need to participate in high speed programs, but almost everyone opts in. The college received approximately $80 million in additional funding last academic year, Keyton said.
University leaders are adapting to the changing identity of the school, as double-credit students make up a large part of the entire student population. It currently takes longer to teach at high schools than at campus.
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As young people increasingly question the value of universities, many have come up with new price tags: free.
In its bold pilot program, Austin Community College and Del Mar College are waiving three years of tuition fees for local high school graduates.
“The ‘discount’ doesn’t change the perception that people can’t afford to go to college,” ACC Prime Minister Russell Laurie Hart told the Texas Tribune. “”Free” means when we’re talking about affordable college prices. ”
The first class for students who will benefit from the free tuition program launched this year. The ACC paid for the $6.8 million it received from the state through HB 8 last year.
Lowery-Hart hopes to use the program to reach students who are not planning to go to university. A recent survey of prospective students at ACC found that over half said they didn’t register because of tuition fees.
As the glitch in the improved federal financial aid application delays the awards package, Austin-area students told the Tribune that ACC’s free teaching program is a much-needed option that eases uncertainty.
Del Mar College follows in the ACC’s footsteps and is launching free tuition benefits this fall for recent high school graduates and adult learners in the Corpus Christi area. Students must enroll full time and maintain a grade point average of at least 2.0 to qualify.
In what is called the “First Dollar” program, the University of Texas pays students tuition before federal and state aid begins. This allows students to use grants and scholarships to pay for other needs, such as housing, food, and textbooks.
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Laredo College turned nearly 80 students into peer advisors and seven of them on the advice crew.
Peer Advisors are recent graduates, former students who have transferred to a four-year university or current students with a degree. They help classmates enroll in their classes and go smoothly to graduation.
Many Laredo University students are the first to go to university with their families. Minita Ramirez, president of the University of Laredo, said youth in the area often choose not to pursue university degrees.
“Whether it’s your first college student in high school… a 70-year-old gentleman who wanted to go to college for his whole life… Our hope is that we can guide him through the process and provide support so that he feels comfortable in a completely foreign environment,” Ramirez said. “If we can do that, our numbers will increase.”
Ramirez said the University of Laredo has already seen 1,500 students switch from part-time to full-time.
HB 8 urged university leaders like Ramirez to modify their disjointed advice systems to prevent students from running through the cracks. Research shows that student advice is linked to higher grades and graduation rates.
When students at North Central Texas College register online for courses that do not count towards their degree, warning signs pop up to encourage them to visit their advisors. Prime Minister G. Brent Wallace said he wanted to ensure that students didn’t sign up for the wrong courses and wanted to save the time and money that comes with those decisions.
North Central Texas College also hired about 12 staff, so advisors don’t grow too thin and students are attracting the attention of their academic needs, Wallace said.
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While community colleges have long been players helping to close the scope of their workforce, HB 8 has been a driving force for leaders to strengthen relationships with local employers.
For example, Sherman is working on a new identity as a semiconductor manufacturing hub. In recent years, giants such as Texas Instruments and Globetech have been building multi-billion dollar chipmaking facilities.
Before these facilities had finished construction, Grayson College was already training students, so they were ready to join the industry.
University president Jeremy McMillen said the school has added programs such as electronic and automation accreditation with input from these companies. It mimics the collaborations that state technology universities have with their employers.
“We had to move the needle in terms of building from the infrastructure,” McMillen said last month at the Texas Tribune event. “It’s very difficult to imagine that we could have done it without the HB 8 in the background.”
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North Texas students get more support when they choose a Dallas College course they want to pursue a single degree.
To facilitate transfers to local universities, Dallas College worked with Texas A&M University Commerce, Texas Women’s University and North Texas University of Dallas to determine which courses students will earn credibility when they transfer. The HB 8 fundraising model means community colleges earn money when students transfer successfully.
According to data from the Aspen Institute, about 80% of students enrolled at Community Colleges are expected to transfer, but only 16% are expected to transfer.
In the fall of 2022, more than 13,000 Texan students who transferred had not received at least one credit for a course that completed at least one course, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordination Committee. Students lose time and money when they take classes that they cannot count towards their degree. Set-off can discourage them from completing their bachelor’s degree.
Dallas area schools will launch an online portal in the fall, allowing future students to see how credits are counted at each school and track progress towards their bachelor’s degree.
In three areas of research: Business, Education and Health Sciences, universities have already agreed which Dallas College courses will count for related majors on campus.
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