Enrollment numbers are a constant factor that schools across all levels focus on. For South Plains College, almost the entirety of funding comes from student numbers. During the last regularly held South Plains College Board of Regents meeting October 13, President Robin Satterwhite gave his president’s report and focused on the potential changes that could affect the college after the next legislative session. “Right now, we are funded almost entirely by student numbers,” explained Satterwhite. “They want to shift that. The number they have said has been closer to 90 or 95 percent is what we are currently funded with through student enrollment.”
The shift in budget would be geared to the success of the students versus the overall count of them.
“That is really good for us, but what the problem is the state continues to fight for the same number of students, because that is how we are funded,” said Alexander.
Dr. Satterwhite offered an example from the documents presented to the board, saying each college is presented a slice a pie, but they are all different sizes each year.
Talking points for commission draft recommendations from the Texas Association of Community Colleges detailed the possible changes legislation is looking at.
Community colleges are often referred to as a three-legged stool as they are currently funded three main sources such as state appropriations, local property taxes and tuition fees.
For current state financing, allocation is the method in use. This means colleges compete against each other for a limited amount of state appropriations.
By the mid-1980’s, the state provided 65 percent of all community college funding; today state appropriations on average account for 24 percent of the total community college budgets.
The documents given to everybody in attendance has dramatically shifted from the state to local taxpayers. It is possible for colleges to improve year-toyear and still lose state funding because another college had improved at a greater rate.
Dr. Satterwhite explained that the draft recommendations would significantly change the funding model for community colleges towards a dynamic model that is almost entirely outcome based.
The model would allow for future growth in funding as colleges achieve certain outcomes such as: degrees, certificates, credentials from credit and noncredit programs, credentials of value in high-demand fields and transfer to four-year universities.
With time for change to these draft recommendations before the Texas Legislative session in November, the suggested model would provide incentives tied to students’ progress to credentials, especially by completing a sequence of dual credit courses that apply to academic and workforce program requirements. One of the bigger issues Satterwhite feels the association is tackling is the disparity and inequity between the taxing district across the state. “We just don’t have the same opportunities and we futuristically will not have the same opportunities as other areas that have a different tax base than us,” explained Dr. Satterwhite. “They haven’t given us specifics on this yet or any modeling but, there will be incentives for workforce education, student characteristics which entails more funding for students and an increased access to financial aid.”
Diving into the student characteristics, with the additional funding for students who need additional resources to succeed, the students who are economically and academically disadvantaged and adult learners will benefit from those recommendations.
“We have a very large percentage of economically disadvantaged students in our region,” said Satterwhite. “That happens in rural areas. It is natural, it’s expected, and we could have told people that before we did any analysis.”
Within the recommendation of increased access to financial aid, the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant Program currently provides enough funding for only 28 percent of eligible students.
The draft recommendations would increase the funding level to support at least 70 percent of students who would qualify for the program.
“For dual credit financial aid, it is going to big as well,” explained Dr. Satterwhite. “Currently, dual credit students aren’t eligible for financial aid. The recommendation would allow the state to provide support for dual credit tuition and fees for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch programs.”
Dr. Satterwhite believes that there will be a levelling out result if the recommendations do come to fruition in the Texas Legislature.
“Interestingly, some things are not allied through this, but some things that I have heard through conversation and legislative updates is they are not only looking at your tax base, but also how you’ve maximized your revenue from that tax base,” explained Satterwhite. “I don’t like that idea, but we have a higher tax rate than a lot of people and we are probably taking more advantage of our tax base than many places are. We should benefit substantially if that is the way it goes.”
For dual credit students, Satterwhite explained that there are some institutions across the state that are requiring full price for those students. A recommendation listed is setting a maximum rate for dual credit classes. “I think we have done really well and have prepared ourselves with reducing our dual credit fees in the last three to four years,” said Satterwhite. “When they set that maximum price, I think we will be right at that price or below. I think we will be positioned well.”
As these changes are discussed during the next legislative session, Dr. Satterwhite explained how significant this model would be for SPC. “This is going to be very significant,” said Satterwhite. “For the past 50 years we have had this current model that has proven to not be functional any longer. I think we stand to do well and this will put us in a great position.”