Undergrads put a face on funding for politicians in Austin

In a matter of a few weeks, legislators will meet to discuss a restructuring of the Tuition Equalization Grant. Representatives from UMHB went to the Texas Legislature recently to have their voices heard on the issue.

Gary Lamm, associate director of Financial Aid; Ron Brown, associate vice president/director of Financial Aid and Enrollment Management; and Brent Burks, associate director of Admissions and Recruiting took a group of nine selected students receiving TEG grants to the capital Feb. 27 in efforts to petition for preservation of the funding.

This type of program is the only form of state funding that serves to balance enrollment of private universities with state colleges by awarding monetary assistance to students attending private institutions.

Lamm, who also serves as the Central Texas regional coordinator, worked with the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas, a lobbyist group, to extend an invitation to the schools from the area to act as a “lobbyist for a day.”

The group attended a legislative meeting in which the Bell County representative, Dianne White Delisi, introduced them to the House of Representatives and had them stand up to be recognized.

Josh Wood, senior exercise and sports science major, was among those who went to Austin to speak to the politicians. He is a recipient of the grant.

"It is important to put a name and face in (the representatives’) minds to personalize the TEG,” he said.

The funding was created when state colleges were noticeably receiving more incoming students than private universities due to the less expensive tuition.  

"(It) helped level out the playing field because we were losing a lot of students to state schools,” Burks said.  

The TEG is awarded based on a student’s FAFSA application and can be given to families with incomes as high as $90,000. 

UMHB is allowed approximately $3.5 million from the government to distribute among 1,063 students who currently receive the TEG.  Losing the grant would affect nearly 40 percent of the undergraduates currently attending the university.

If the bill to reconstruct TEG is passed, the new program will be called the Texas Assistance Grant. It will bring about more than just a name change.

High school seniors applying for the TAG would have to graduate with a 3.0 grade point average and have a family income of $50,000 or less—a $40,000 drop from the original criteria.

"It leaves out a lot of middle income people with no state support at all,” Lamm said.
TAG would also require students to maintain a 3.0 grade point average and complete their undergraduate degree in four years.  If the conditions are not met, the grant turns into a loan, and students will have to pay it back.

The students would “suddenly graduate with more loan debt than thought,” Lamm said.

UMHB selects students every two years to travel to the capital and extend their appreciation to the representatives and senators for their support of the TEG and consideration of private universities.  This year, however, the trip encompassed a different agenda.

Burks said their mission was to “put a bug in (legislators’) ear” and to show the faces of the students who would be affected if the grant changes.

Deliberation will begin in a few weeks, but a final decision could take several months.

Burks said he doesn’t anticipate the bill calling to reconstruct the TEG will  pass, but says if it does, “It will certainly hurt our efforts in recruiting the size classes that we want and need.

“It is a concern of many state officials … (but) no one really thinks it will pass because it would be a huge damper on private schools.”