{"id":386185,"date":"2026-07-25T11:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T11:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/386185\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T11:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T11:05:11","slug":"heres-how-texas-could-change-funding-for-public-universities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/386185\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s how Texas could change funding for public universities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s how Texas could change funding for public universities<\/p>\n

Published 5:27 am Saturday, July 25, 2026<\/p>\n

\n By Maryam Ahmed, The Dallas Morning News\n <\/p>\n

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board recommended this week that the Texas Legislature consider funding public, four-year universities based on what fields students study and how long students stay enrolled.<\/p>\n

At the board\u2019s quarterly meeting in Austin, a committee of university representatives from across the state presented its report on how Texas could use a performance-based funding model for four-year universities. The Texas Legislature commissioned the report last year.<\/p>\n

The board unanimously approved the report\u2019s findings, and the Texas Legislature will have the report in hand as it works on the state\u2019s 2028-29 budget next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a major policy opportunity for the state of Texas,\u201d said Wynn Rosser, commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.<\/p>\n

A performance-based funding model allocates money to schools based on degree completion and progress. The proposal comes as state lawmakers have increasingly scrutinized whether Texas\u2019 schools are sufficiently preparing students for the workforce.<\/p>\n

Texas implemented performance-based funding for community colleges in 2023, allocating funds based on how many students earned credentials or transferred to universities in an effort to incentivize schools to better prepare students for the workforce. However, the board advised a more modest approach for four-year institutions.<\/p>\n


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The report recommended that performance-based funding should complement, rather than replace, existing funding formulas based on enrollment, citing that the current structures account for the higher cost of teaching certain programs, like engineering or nursing.<\/p>\n

Under the board\u2019s proposed funding model, attaining a credential of value would account for 60% of funding, with additional weight given to master\u2019s degrees, doctoral degrees and degrees earned in high-demand fields.<\/p>\n

The other 40% of funding would come from \u201cprogression and persistence.\u201d Students are most vulnerable to dropping out within the first quarter of their degree, so universities would receive the highest funding rate when a student completes 30 credit hours, with decreasing rates as they reach the 60- and 90-hour milestones. Most colleges require 120 credit hours to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree, and full-time students must take a minimum of 12 credit hours each semester.<\/p>\n

Currently, public four-year universities receive state funding based on enrollment, along with \u201cinstitutional enhancements,\u201d from a $423 million fund that supports faculty recruitment and other operations. Last year, some state lawmakers unsuccessfully pushed to remove the institutional enhancement fund. The Legislature did direct the higher education board to investigate whether a performance-based funding model could redirect schools away from enhancement funding.<\/p>\n

Since some schools rely more on enhancement funding than others, the report approved on Wednesday recommended that funding be phased out over several years rather than being immediately eliminated at the end of 2027 as the Legislature wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to avoid any kind of implementation where there would be a significant financial hardship to any institution,\u201d said Daniel Harper, vice chancellor and chief financial officer of the Texas State University System.<\/p>\n

As the board backed performance-based funding for four-year universities, it ran into some complications with that model at the community college level. Student success far exceeded lawmaker\u2019s expectations, meaning the state can no longer afford the funding model it approved in 2023.<\/p>\n

The board scaled back funding for academically and economically disadvantaged students and adult learners over age 25 beginning in fiscal year 2027. The Dallas College District will see a 2.8% decrease in funding from this year \u2014 over $3 million \u2014 but some community colleges could see drops of over 15%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s how Texas could change funding for public universities Published 5:27 am Saturday, July 25, 2026 By Maryam…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-386185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}