Prepared Remarks
Max Castillo
President, University of Houston–Downtown

Legislative Appropriations Request ( LAR ) Hearing
Before Governor’s Office of the Budget and Legislative Budget Board

Hilton University of Houston Hotel
September 18, 2006

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this morning to talk with you about UH–Downtown and our funding needs. This is my fourteenth year as president of the university. During that time the university has undergone significant changes and remarkable growth.

I’ve always maintained that our university is uniquely positioned to address the state’s goal of providing “an affordable, accessible, and high quality system of higher education that prepares individuals for a changing economy and workforce.” And we are playing a critical role in working with the state to Close the Gaps in educational attainment.

I suspect that, as you conduct these hearings around the state, you will hear many university presidents tell you that their institutions are special. In some sense, every institution is. One of the great virtues of our system of higher education is our broad range of missions and services – that we don’t operate under a highly centralized “one–size fits all” model of higher education. But, UHD is unique, and I hope that my remarks this afternoon will help you understand why I believe this so strongly. For the most part, I will be following the basic organization of the Administrator’s Statement section of our LAR.

  • First, I will offer a brief overview of the university, giving special attention to those qualities that set us apart from other institutions.

  • Second, I will highlight some of the more significant initiatives we have undertaken in the past several years to better serve the needs of our students and our community.

  • Finally, I will review the funding requests we are making for the next biennium.

UH–Downtown is a relatively young university. Our impressive growth over the university’s 32–year history rests in our quality programs. They demonstrate compelling evidence of the effectiveness with which we respond to the Greater Houston area’s educational needs. One of a new generation of universities that came into being in the 1970s, we are committed to identifying and addressing the challenges of the future. We are not bound, for instance, by dreams of becoming a tier–one research institution nor are we bound by legislative restrictions to teach only upper–level courses. We are not limited by an ethnic or religious affiliation and we are not a community college. We have no aspirations to recruit only students whose advantages guarantee their success. We affirm our identity and commit to a forward–looking agenda. We embrace new opportunities and accept new challenges.

We are firmly committed to expanding access to higher education. Access does not negate excellence. The university’s conviction is that access and excellence must co–exist. Moreover, the quality of an educational program is actually enhanced when it is offered in a culturally and ethnically diverse environment.

UHD’s steady growth reinforces its success in expanding access and offering quality programs. It is expected that our preliminary Fall 2006 enrollment of 11,453 will leave UHD 14th in size among Texas’ 35 universities and third among public universities in southeast Texas. This year’s enrollment represents a 28% increase over Fall 2000 when we had a headcount of 8,951.

The strong economy and increased educational costs have slowed enrollment growth throughout the state. Still, there is no question in my mind that the university will be experiencing another growth spurt in the near future. To accommodate this projected growth, we must continue to plan for expanded physical facilities.

With a student body that is 38% Hispanic, 25% African–American, 24% white, and 10%, Asian, UHD remains the most ethnically diverse university in the state. The 1,719 undergraduates who earned a degree from UHD in 2004–2005 represented a 32% increase over the number who graduated in 2000–2001. Minority graduates have increased at an even higher rate – about 62% for the same time frame.

Over 60 percent of our students are first–generation college students. Three–fourths of them have jobs and about half attend on a part–time basis. Many would not be in higher education were it not for UHD.

UHD recognizes that, to fulfill our urban mission, we must not rest on past achievements. We must continuously search for ways to better serve the state’s educational needs. As we prepare for the new biennium, our highest priority is providing programs and support services that enable students to achieve their academic goals. We are currently in the process of implementing a new five–year Quality Enhancement Plan that includes a variety of initiatives to better prepare first generation college students for success.

The basic mission of the University of Houston – Downtown remains unchanged, but we have changed the methods we are using to carry out that mission.

UHD continues to add new academic degree programs in response to community need and student demand. An example of UHD’s unique and innovative degree programs is the new Bachelor of Arts in Spanish for Professionals, added in Fall 2004, and two new master’s degrees – the Master of Security Management and the Master of Science in Professional Writing and Technical Communications.

Growing enrollments have also created the need for additional space. To address its significant space deficit, UHD has begun construction of the new Shea Street Building, which will house our AACSB–accredited College of Business. Yet, even with the addition of this new building, UHD will still have one of the highest per student space deficits in the state.

As part of our commitment to increasing access to higher education, UH–Downtown continues to make courses available to students online and at various sites in the Houston metropolitan area through distance learning. This fall approximately 9 % of UHD’s total SCHs are being generated through some form of distance education. The fastest growth is in online courses, which now account for 5 % of our total SCHs.

We are expanding our existing joint admissions program with North Harris Montgomery Community College District. We have implemented a similar program with the Houston Community College System. Joint admission programs will streamline the enrollment; financial aid, and credit transfer process and provide a seamless transition between two–year and four–year baccalaureate degree programs. This is another positive step toward achieving one of the goals outlined in the state’s plan.

The number of transfer students at UHD is growing due largely to the increased number of agreements with area community colleges. In response, we have created the UHD Transfer Center. Staffed with specialized admissions counselors and advisors, the Transfer Center provides a single place where transfer students can find all the information and services they need to make a successful transition.

UHD currently has Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approval to offer two undergraduate programs in the Cypress–Fairbanks area – the Urban Teacher Education Program in Early Childhood and the General Business program.

The Early Childhood program is currently being offered at Cy–Fair College, a component of North Harris/Montgomery County College District. This offering is in response to Cy–Fair Independent School District’s request for a teacher education program for the paraprofessionals in the district. The program has been so well received that the North Harris/Montgomery Community College District has asked that it be expanded to their Tomball and Kingwood campuses.

Additionally, UHD’s undergraduate degree in General Business is approved to be offered in the northwest corridor, specifically in the Cy–Fair College area.

A 2+2 agreement exists between North Harris/Montgomery Community College District campuses and UHD to facilitate completion of an associate’s degree with easy transition into the university for the baccalaureate degree.

Many more exciting things have been happening at UHD this past biennium, but let me stop here and move on to a discussion of our funding needs.

UHD urges that efforts continue to provide for Texas’s economic future through greater investment in all levels of the state’s educational system. The university urges that every effort be made to reverse the recent trend that shifts more of the cost of higher education onto the individual student. This trend has had the most direct impact on lower to middle income groups. Ultimately, the shifts in financial aid from grants to loans places an increased burden on students and their families, which may be contributing to the reluctance of lower to middle income families to commit to higher education. The state will suffer without the educated workforce needed to remain competitive in today’s economy.

Earlier this month the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education released its “Report Card” on Higher Education. Texas earned an “F” in affordability. The Center noted the state’s increased commitment to financially needy students; however, its investment remains low when compared with other states. The Center also reported that, even with financial aid, the share of family income needed to pay for college expenses at public four–year institutions has increased from 22 % to 30 %.

To minimize the financial barriers that restrict college attendance, I urge that serious consideration be given to the following recommendations:

  • Increase formula funding. In 1981, two–thirds of our funding came from the state. 25 years later, that number is down to 40%.

  • Fully fund the Texas Grant program. UHD will receive less Texas Grant funds in FY2007 than we received in FY2006 – despite the fact that the need is greater than ever. I join State Senator Rodney Ellis in urging the legislative leadership to fulfill the promises made when this program was launched.

  • Provide supplemental funding for pay raises. Universities could once count on such funding to help them recruit and retain high quality staff and faculty. I believe that FY2003 was the last time the state provided supplemental funding for employee pay raises. The assumption in recent years appears to be that universities would keep up with rising personnel costs by increasing designated tuition. This, again, only serves to shift costs to the students.

  • Commit to fund the debt service on all current and future TRB’s. Institutions should not have to face the uncertainty of requesting continued funding for TRB obligations on a biennium to biennium basis.

UHD is also seeking funding for three institution–specific initiatives:

  • Debt service for TRB’s authorized during the most recent special session.
    During the special session of the Texas Legislature that ended May 14, legislators authorized the issuance of $31.6 million in TRB bonds to retroactively help fund UHD’s new College of Business facility. The amount needed to cover the debt service on these authorized bonds will be $4,923,371 for the next biennium.

  • Funding for undergraduate education in biotechnology.
    New funding in the amount of $800,000 is being requested to help Texas meet Closing the Gaps goals by building on a successful program – the award–winning UHD Scholars Academy –that brings more minority graduates in critical fields. This funding will enable the university to provide its outstanding biotechnology program with unique learning experiences that will then serve as a model for other institutions throughout the state. These efforts would be centered on project–based learning experiences involving Biofilms, Plant Systematics, Microbial Genomics, NanoBio Detectors, and Pathogens of concern to the Texas wine and potato industries.

  • Restoration of 10% cut in baseline budget.
    This 10 % cut was made to comply with the state’s directive that baseline funding not exceed 90 % of 2006–2007 funding. To meet the requirement, the amount requested for Institutional Enhancement was reduced by $642,974 and the amount for its Community Development Special Item reduced by $66,500. The Institutional Enhancement special item funding initiated by the 76th Legislature and enhanced by the 77th Legislature enabled the university to make significant improvements in the quality of services delivered to students. The university needs full funding of this special item to support student services that are critical to the successful fulfillment of our urban mission. Needed in part to support basic operations, Institutional Enhancement funding allows the university to support a number of mission–specific activities, such as the Academic Support Lab. This lab helps students who enter the university with deficiencies in mathematics, English and reading.

The university is requesting full funding for its community development activities on the city’s near north side. These funds will serve as seed money for community–based efforts to revitalize two separate, economically depressed north side neighborhoods – the predominantly African–American Acres Homes neighborhood and the largely Hispanic area bounded by downtown, I–45N, 610 Loop North and Highway 59N. These projects have their own boards that oversee a variety of economic development and community enhancement programs.

The University of Houston–Downtown is deeply committed to the state’s goal to provide “an affordable, accessible, and high quality system of higher education that prepares individuals for a changing economy and workforce.” We have already made major contributions toward meeting the state’s Closing the Gaps goals and anticipate sustained impact in that area. UHD’s commitment to serve the complex educational needs of a diverse urban constituency, our emphasis on quality instruction and community outreach, and our low cost operations, position us well to respond to the educational challenges of the 21st century.

While all the current trends for UH–Downtown appear positive, we recognize that the future is never certain. To assure our continued success, we recognize that we must be a nimble institution, not tied to the way things have been done in the past, but willing to adapt and make the necessary changes to meet new challenges as they arrive. As a public, urban university, UHD recognizes that our purpose is to serve the people of Texas.

For the past 32 years, UH–Downtown has partnered with the state to offer affordable, accessible, superior–quality higher education. Only with appropriate support can we do what we are meant to do – build programs and services while maintaining quality – thus allowing UHD to make an even greater contribution to the state’s educational goals.