News

UH shafted from funding

The draft budget that passed in the Texas House will dramatically reduce state funding for higher education, reducing the UH System’s budget while other universities are funded by other state programs.

Though massive cuts to funding for higher education are expected statewide, the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems will continue to receive exclusive access to funding from the Permanent University Fund (PUF).

The bill is being revised in the Texas Senate, and the debate is expected to force a special summer session, meaning a decision may not be made until as late as mid-August.

“Historically, there’s been a funding discrepancy between UH, UT and A&M,” said Maria González, associate professor and director of Upper Division Studies in the Department of English.

“UT gets historically $100 million more than we do, and A&M gets $75 million more than we do because of a specific fund,” González said.

All public higher education institutions in Texas, except community colleges and the Texas A&M School of Dentistry, receive funding from either the PUF or the Higher Education Assistance Fund (HEAF).

Distributions of the PUF funds are deposited into the Available University Fund, two-thirds of which are appropriated to the UT system with the rest going to the A&M system. The PUF provides support to 21 institutions that make up most of the UT and A&M systems.

All other eligible institutions receive benefits from HEAF. These funds are distributed among 30 intuitions, four of which make up the UH system.

For the 2010-2011 biennium, the state appropriated $1.69 billion for the PUF, and $524 million for the HEAF.

This year, HEAF makes up only two percent of UH’s funding. State appropriations make up 22 percent, and tuition provides the most with 38 percent. According to a budget series reported in The Daily Texan, UT Austin received $166 million from the AUF in 2011. This makes up just more than 7.5 percent of their $2.2 billion annual budget.

González said UT has a strong alumni presence in Austin and plenty of influence with Texas legislators. She said UH doesn’t have the funding to build and maintain an alumni infrastructure like the one UT has.

“We’ve been busy just trying to keep the lights on,” González said.

González expects some of the budget gap will have to be covered by raising tuition. The UH Board of Regents passed a proposal last week that will limit tuition increases to 7 percent for the Fall 2011 semester.

González says students should become more involved by contacting their state representatives and state senators. She said legislators who support funding for education are the minority and “have no pull.”

Leave a Comment