Texas Tech is hoping state lawmakers who meet every two years to hash out a budget will restore important funding to the university they slashed eight years ago. President Lawrence Schovanec says that in 2011 the state’s funding formula paid a little more than $62 per weighted semester credit hour. That amount is now about $55.
“As the state formula goes down, the tuition goes up,” Schovanec says. “Why is the restoration of the formula so important? It has a big affect on how we do business, how we fulfill our mission. And it has an affect on the cost of education for students.”
He says the funding formula shortage is just part of the reason tuition has increased 49 percent over the past 10 years. Some of the increase includes other costs.
“We offer a much greater array of support services than we used. I was over at the wellness center the other day and that’s a major upgrade of what we had years ago. Compliance has grown considerably, all matters of compliance,” he says.
Schovanec says that even if lawmakers return to the 2011 formula funding level, it won’t help as much as if they had done it sooner.
“Keep in mind that getting back to the funding level of $62.19 today would represent much less purchasing power than it was back then.”
And, he says, there is another factor that lawmakers need to recognize. “If you talk to any president or listen to any testimony, house or senate, everybody says: what’s your top priority? They would say, fund the formula to account for growth, because they need to add more money to the formula to compensate for the growth in students in Texas. If they only funded at this level and the student population increases, everybody’s share of the pie goes down,” he says.
Schovanec also would like to see the state clear a backlog in Core Research Fund dollars owed to Tech from a $10 million donation in 2016 from philanthropists J.T. and Margaret Talkington. The expansion and renovation of the Charles E. Maedgen Jr. Theatre is underway.
The $10 million donation triggers a complete match from the state, he says, but with the backlog, that money isn’t slated to come to the university until Fiscal Year 2022.
“Another priority is to clear the backlog of the Texas research incentive program. It’s $182 million.”
Schovanec says the university has other requests for funding beyond $17 million for the biennium for the vet school planned for Amarillo.
“For us, that’s not the only thing on our plate. Formula, staff support, Texas grants, scholarships for honors students. We do have a reoccurring list of non-formula items, they used to call those special items. There’s eight or nine million, each year in those non-formula items that we’re also seeking.”
Schovanec is eyeing ways to lessen the university’s dependence on the formula funding. He says he’ll present ideas about utilizing land the university already owns when the system’s board of regents meet in May.
“We’re considering a number of initiatives that will be taken to the board in May, that will generate alternative revenue streams related to use of property—this campus. We have the property along Indiana, the VA administration’s hospital. There’s a chance to generate some revenue with some commercial retail activities along Indiana and 4th street. And I got a call this week asking about the property across from Covenant, so that’s under discussion. We have an opportunity for public/private partnership there. But these are things we’re going to have to take before the board and get their blessing,” Schovanec says.
