Higher Education

Governor Rick Perry is committed to a higher education system in the
State of Texas that prepares our young men and women for the challenges
and competitiveness of a global economy. If Texas is to remain a leader
in job creation, we must put a premium on an educated and skilled
workforce. This is why Governor Perry has proposed a comprehensive
higher education plan that offers incentive funding for our community
colleges and universities, increases financial aid for our students and
provides budget transparency for our taxpayers.

Innovative Incentive Funding

In order to meet the statewide goal of increasing the number of
students earning bachelor’s degrees, associate degrees and certificates
by 171,000 by 2010, Governor Perry has proposed allocating $350 million
in incentive funding. Universities would receive additional money for
graduating ‘at-risk’ students, students graduating with degrees in
critical fields such as engineering, computer science, nursing and
public education with a focus on math and science.

Increasing Financial Aid and Work Study Program

With the rising cost of tuition and the demands of the workforce,
Governor Perry believes we must equip our students in every way
possible to attend college. This is why he has proposed increasing
financial aid assistance by $362 million – a 60 percent increase. This
would be accomplished by expanding two existing financial aid programs
– Tuition Assistance Grant and the B-On-Time program – and creating a
new Texas Technology Grant aimed at increasing the number of graduates
in critical areas of the Texas workforce such as electrical engineering
and computer science. Governor Perry has also requested an increase of
$13 million for the current Texas College Work Study Program so
students needing a part-time job can achieve their academic goals while
remaining on firm financial footing.

Addressing the Nursing Shortage

By 2010, Texas will have 27,000 fewer nurses than it needs in our
hospitals, assisted living centers, private practices and our schools.
Governor has proposed addressing this problem with $57 million in total
funding for programs specifically designed to increase the number of
licensed nurses. This includes $47 million for two new programs,
including $40 million for a hospital-based nursing education program
and $7 million for the Nursing Innovation Grant Program.

Budget Transparency

Our higher education institutions currently receive funding in the
form of non-itemized lump sums. This budget practice prohibits
taxpayers from seeing exactly how their money is being spent in our
institutions of higher education. This is not fair to taxpayers.
Governor Perry wants to end this budget practice by calling for more
accountability and transparency in the appropriations process. His plan
would create understandable items in the budget such as “Building
Maintenance,” “Faculty Salaries” and “Library”. Not only does this new
budget format provide greater clarity for how tax dollars are to be
used, it also allows increased precision in allocating dollars for
needy purposes.