Texas Tech University Announces Guaranteed Tuition Program
February 15, 2007
Internationally-respected businessman Sir John Harvey-Jones once remarked that “the nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.”
I am honored to speak here today before this Statewide Education Summit because it is reassuring to know that in Texas we are planning for a better future.
In Texas, by forming partnerships, we can achieve a transformation of PK-16 education. In Texas, we realize collectively that not only are summits and discussion important, but also that follow-up actions will be necessary to Close the Gaps in our education system and make postsecondary education an achievable goal for all Texans. In Texas, investment in education, from a child’s formative early years through twelve years of fundamental education, through two or four years of college or university education must be at the forefront of your thinking.
Investing in education means ensuring a brilliant future for Texas and Texans. Not investing in education, right now, will mean a future of stagnation and frustration as more progressive states move ahead of Texas in the talent and brain race.
We cannot let that happen.
At Texas Tech University, we have acted on the knowledge that preparing Texas students for college begins in preschool and lasts through high school. We also know that although there is no perfect predictor for first-year college success, the more rigorous and demanding the high school curriculum and advanced placement courses are, the better the graduate will perform as a college freshmen.
Texas Tech has always operated under the guiding principal that all students should have the opportunity to go to college—but they must be prepared. Because we recognize the importance of the K-12 years in laying the foundation for postsecondary education, several of Texas Tech’s colleges are engaged in programs that encourage more K-12 students to take more challenging courses, complete high school, and prepare for college. Ranging from reading programs, to engineering and science programs for girls, to a pre-law institute at a minority high school, these Texas Tech initiatives enhance the quality of our schools and the preparation of teachers and students throughout Texas.
For example, we recently partnered with Workforce Development of the South Plains to hold a day-long Closing the Gaps Education Summit with sessions for professional educators and for junior and senior high students in our region. Students heard about what it takes to become a nurse, a teacher, a banker. They learned about personal money management as well as how to write a winning essay on a college or scholarship application.
We also sponsor a Back to School Fiesta on our campus each August where 4,000 economically disadvantaged public school students received free school supplies as they and their parents and siblings visit with representatives from every aspect of campus life at Texas Tech.
My personal message to these students is, “it is never too early to start to prepare for college. Make up your mind in 3rd or 5th grade or whatever grade you are in that you are going to go to college.”
Here’s another example: While the cultural and economic background of Texas is changing at a rapid rate, the demographic profile of Texans who attend law school is stagnant. Therefore, a new five-year partnership between the Texas Tech School of Law and Lubbock’s Estacado High School gives students who are curious about a career in law some extra mentoring, insights, and resources. Faculty and students of our School of Law help prepare these high school students for competition in mock trials and other scholarly competitions.
In our College of Engineering, an associate dean told me that “Calculus is the killer!” Students drop out of engineering programs across the state at alarming rates because they don’t get past calculus and physics. These students don’t even get to encounter their first real engineering course. Last year, our Engineering Outreach Center on campus transformed into a T-STEM Center where high school math and science teachers are taught about engineering and asked to instill in their students a curiosity about this field that is often ignored in high schools.
We are very proud to be part of the group of higher education institutions that is implementing the exciting new Texas Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Initiative, or T-STEM. T-STEM is a central component of the Texas High School Project which we will hear more about later today. I mention this now to applaud the public/private partnership that created this dynamic new initiative. I am excited that Texas Tech is one of 5 T-STEM Centers in the state. We will partner with Lubbock ISD and Education Service Center Regions housed in San Angelo, Amarillo, Lubbock and Midland.
We join UT-Austin, UT-Pan American, UTEP, and Texas A&M in demonstrating to the state and the nation that partnerships that seek to prepare students with a better foundation in math and science produce more college graduates, a more economically sound state, and a higher quality of life for our students and their families.
Another brief example of our outreach to K-12 students is the Texas Tech Independent School District. YES – Texas Tech has its own ISD with a full curriculum online for grades K-12. In addition to being a major supplier of curriculum for home schooled students throughout Texas and the nation, we also operate a distance education high school that graduates over 100 seniors from across the nation and the world each year. These students typically are professional actors, musicians or athletes.
But we also offer Credit by Examination to high schools throughout Texas. Top 10 school districts in the state using our Credit by Examination last academic year included El Paso, Brownsville, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Ysleta, San Antonio, Austin, La Joya, and McAllen. I think this speaks volumes about the quality of our Credit by Exam Program, and the diversity of school districts with a total of 1,030 schools that used our programs.
Affordability is the second critical issue for many Texas families. Two years ago Texas Tech became the first public university in the state to offer entering students a Graduate on Time Contract. Simply put, the contract guarantees that students who declare a major by their sophomore year, meet with their advisor regularly, and take at least 30 hours per academic year will be able to graduate in the minimum time indicated for their major.
We guarantee that Texas Tech will make the classes available in the correct sequence for timely graduation. The Graduate on Time contract has become a factor in affordability at Texas Tech. The total cost of attending an extra semester or an extra year far outweighs increases in tuition.
In the 2006-2007 academic year we also implemented a tuition rate that encourages students to take 15 or more credit hours per semester. Many more Tech students have moved from taking an average 12-hours to 15. Any credits taken above 15 are free.
Chancellor Kent Hance announced to the House Committee on Higher Education on Monday that, pending regential approval, we will begin a guaranteed tuition and mandatory fees program this fall. The program will guarantee to cover tuition and mandatory fees for four years in grants and scholarships for all new freshman students from Texas whose family’s adjusted gross income does not exceed $40,000.
This means that many students who did not think they could afford college now can.
Other new ventures in alignment and affordability are in the pipeline at Texas Tech, but my time has run out. As this summit exhibits, new partnerships are also in the pipelines of public school and university systems throughout the state. The governor and legislature leaders are involved, as are the state’s most prestigious private funding organizations, and most visionary individuals.
This all leads me to an optimistic conclusion.
The days of only discussing the problems of Closing the Gaps may be near an end. I hope an era of action replaces one of long discussions and time-consuming contemplation.
If Texas can partner up; if Texas can focus on being responsive to real issues of access and affordability; if Texas can scale up successful programs, like those I have spoken about here today, to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of K-12 schools across the state; Texas will be on the right path to fulfilling a community-wide, indeed, a state-wide responsibility to the children of Texas.
Thank you.