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This is an old article I found in the Chronicle from a little less than a year ago. The gist is that all TX medical schools are going to have their funding cut, including Baylor (which gets funding from the state).
AUSTIN - An estimated 5,000 students would be denied college scholarships promised to them by the state because of cuts designed to ease a projected $10 billion budget shortfall, lawmakers were told Monday.
Texas Higher Education Commissioner Don Brown told members of the House Appropriations Committee that budget cuts would mean the Texas Grant scholarship program would not be able to provide aid to all of the estimated 80,000 students who will be eligible in 2004-05.
Texas is facing the shortfall because of declining sales tax revenue and rising expenses. State agencies were asked to cut their budget requests by 12.5 percent so lawmakers could balance the next state spending plan without new taxes.
Public medical schools also would see "catastrophic cuts," with the Baylor College of Medicine being the hardest hit, Brown said.
The college would lose more than 80 percent of its state funding .
"How do we hold faith with the students of the state of Texas . . . and also meet really important priorities like the Baylor College of Medicine?" Brown said.
"They're really hard dilemmas."
Although Baylor is a private institution, it receives $39 million a year in state funding in exchange for reserving some admissions slots for Texas students, said college spokesman Ron Gilmore. He said even though the school's annual budget approaches $900 million, much of the money is tied up in research grants. He said any significant cuts in state funding could be a serious blow to the educational programs.
Still, Ralph D. Feigin, president of the Baylor College of Medicine, said it is too soon to panic.
"We appreciate the strong support for Baylor College of Medicine that Commissioner Brown expressed in his testimony this morning before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education," Feigin said in a written statement. "It is still very early in the legislative session and at this time there is not a final figure for how much revenue the Legislature will have available to spend. Commissioner Brown recommended in his testimony that Baylor be treated the same as other medical schools in Texas."
High school graduates who passed a college preparatory curriculum are eligible for the Toward Excellence, Access & Success grants if they attend a Texas institution.
Led by Sen. Rodney Ellis, the Legislature created the program in 1999 to cover full tuition and fees at public schools and defray costs at private universities.
Brown said it would take $462.8 million, up from the current $300 million, to meet the projected demand for the grants in the next two years. Under proposed cuts, the board would get $194.8 million.
Ellis, D-Houston, said he feared the cuts would mean as many as 20,000 students would be denied college aid. He called the proposal "a full frontal assault on higher education."
"With reductions this drastic, we are breaking a promise to students who already are in college and who depend on this money just to stay in school," Ellis said.
Brown emphasized that he would rather not slash any of the programs but was required by the governor and lawmakers to identify potential cuts.
Rep. Fred Brown, R-Bryan, was among the committee members who worried the Higher Education Coordinating Board did not trim enough administrative costs.
The board identified more than $2 million in administrative cuts, including the reduction of full-time positions. Anything more than that could hurt financial aid and other services, the commissioner said.
Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, said less money to medical schools would hurt students and health care provided to Texans, particularly the poor.
"There are real people- children and elderly - who are going to get a benefit from those dollars," he said.
The committee also heard from two-year college officials who said the required $197 million in budget slashing will mean fewer classes, layoffs and an inability to educate a growing number of students.
Community colleges likely will be forced to raise tuition and local property taxes to make up for a loss of already low state funding , he said.
Besides the 12.5 percent cut, community colleges may have to start paying a greater portion of employee health insurance now funded by the state.
The $175 million idea is among Gov. Rick Perry's budget-cutting suggestions.
AUSTIN - An estimated 5,000 students would be denied college scholarships promised to them by the state because of cuts designed to ease a projected $10 billion budget shortfall, lawmakers were told Monday.
Texas Higher Education Commissioner Don Brown told members of the House Appropriations Committee that budget cuts would mean the Texas Grant scholarship program would not be able to provide aid to all of the estimated 80,000 students who will be eligible in 2004-05.
Texas is facing the shortfall because of declining sales tax revenue and rising expenses. State agencies were asked to cut their budget requests by 12.5 percent so lawmakers could balance the next state spending plan without new taxes.
Public medical schools also would see "catastrophic cuts," with the Baylor College of Medicine being the hardest hit, Brown said.
The college would lose more than 80 percent of its state funding .
"How do we hold faith with the students of the state of Texas . . . and also meet really important priorities like the Baylor College of Medicine?" Brown said.
"They're really hard dilemmas."
Although Baylor is a private institution, it receives $39 million a year in state funding in exchange for reserving some admissions slots for Texas students, said college spokesman Ron Gilmore. He said even though the school's annual budget approaches $900 million, much of the money is tied up in research grants. He said any significant cuts in state funding could be a serious blow to the educational programs.
Still, Ralph D. Feigin, president of the Baylor College of Medicine, said it is too soon to panic.
"We appreciate the strong support for Baylor College of Medicine that Commissioner Brown expressed in his testimony this morning before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education," Feigin said in a written statement. "It is still very early in the legislative session and at this time there is not a final figure for how much revenue the Legislature will have available to spend. Commissioner Brown recommended in his testimony that Baylor be treated the same as other medical schools in Texas."
High school graduates who passed a college preparatory curriculum are eligible for the Toward Excellence, Access & Success grants if they attend a Texas institution.
Led by Sen. Rodney Ellis, the Legislature created the program in 1999 to cover full tuition and fees at public schools and defray costs at private universities.
Brown said it would take $462.8 million, up from the current $300 million, to meet the projected demand for the grants in the next two years. Under proposed cuts, the board would get $194.8 million.
Ellis, D-Houston, said he feared the cuts would mean as many as 20,000 students would be denied college aid. He called the proposal "a full frontal assault on higher education."
"With reductions this drastic, we are breaking a promise to students who already are in college and who depend on this money just to stay in school," Ellis said.
Brown emphasized that he would rather not slash any of the programs but was required by the governor and lawmakers to identify potential cuts.
Rep. Fred Brown, R-Bryan, was among the committee members who worried the Higher Education Coordinating Board did not trim enough administrative costs.
The board identified more than $2 million in administrative cuts, including the reduction of full-time positions. Anything more than that could hurt financial aid and other services, the commissioner said.
Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, said less money to medical schools would hurt students and health care provided to Texans, particularly the poor.
"There are real people- children and elderly - who are going to get a benefit from those dollars," he said.
The committee also heard from two-year college officials who said the required $197 million in budget slashing will mean fewer classes, layoffs and an inability to educate a growing number of students.
Community colleges likely will be forced to raise tuition and local property taxes to make up for a loss of already low state funding , he said.
Besides the 12.5 percent cut, community colleges may have to start paying a greater portion of employee health insurance now funded by the state.
The $175 million idea is among Gov. Rick Perry's budget-cutting suggestions.
- and as usual, with truly useful info...
