The UH System Board of Regents will vote today on whether UH-Victoria should begin offering classes to freshman and sophomores.
Board of Regents Chairman Welcome Wilson said UHV’s transition into a four-year university would benefit Texas education.
"I had reservations in the beginning, but now I believe this is for the good of the state," he said.
The expansion would give high school students in the Victoria area who aren’t college bound an opportunity to attend a four-year institution of higher education, Wilson said.
If approved, the upper-division university would begin offering freshman and sophomore-level courses in Fall 2010 and work to recruit students from Houston, Austin and San Antonio area high schools and Victoria College. UHV receives about 120 transfers from Victoria College yearly. Of the 1,887 students graduating from the 16 high schools in the Victoria College service region in 2007, only 51 percent went on to attend a Texas college or university.
"Their plan is to have a very aggressive recruiting program for high school students, and the city has pledged to provide funds for scholarships and for part-time jobs," Wilson said.
The proposal also stipulates UHV’s expansion must be carried out so that it does not have a detrimental affect on Victoria College’s enrollment.
"I would expect the board would be favorably inclined to this proposal given the support the project has received from the Victoria Community," Wilson said.
If approved, the proposal would also make UH-Clear Lake the last upper-division only institution in Texas.
If the board approve the downward expansion, the proposal will be sent to Victoria College Board of Trustees next week and then to the Texas Legislature.
The Board of Regents will convene at 9:30 a.m. today at the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library, Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion.
