Jacqueline Peraza | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley hopes to receive the same amount of funding during the 87th Legislative Session as it did previously in 2019, according to a UTRGV official.
Veronica Gonzales, UTRGV vice president for Governmental and Community Relations, said the university understands this will be a tight session due to a 5% budget cut affecting all state agencies with the exception of COVID-19 response agencies.
“We are asking to maintain the funds we received for both the general academics and the medical school,” Gonzales said.
The university’s legislative priorities can be broken down to fit within two categories: Formula and non-formula funding.
Formula funding is calculated and based on different institutional factors.
“For every student we have, we get a certain amount of money [that] depends on what their major is, their college,” Gonzales said. “So, we want to make sure that the formula stays intact.”
If an institution grows in terms of enrollment, the formula grows as well, she said.
“Despite the pandemic, we were very fortunate to have had enrollment growth,” Gonzales said. “We’re hoping that the legislature takes that into account and looks at the enrollment growth, and as the schools are growing … they increase the amount of the formula. But even if they maintain the formula at the current level, we would see some increases because we were able to increase our enrollment.”
Non-formula funding supports startups of new programs and projects at institutions.
“On the non-formula, they give us monies to help us grow our programs,” she said. “[In general academics,] we’re asking to keep the same level we had last time which was, I believe, $21 million so we can continue to be able to grow programs, and that’s called institutional enhancement.”
According to a rack card provided by Gonzales, UTRGV will set aside $16.8 million for “institutional enhancement, which is critical for funding four new programs.”
The new programs include Doctor of Podiatric Medicine, Doctor of Nursing Practice, Bachelor of Science in Integrated Health Sciences, and Bridge Pipeline Program to Biomedical Sciences and Other Health Professional Programs.
“We would be the first university in the entire state to have a doctor of podiatry,” Gonzales said. “Which is pretty exciting because if you think about how much diabetes we have in the Rio Grande Valley, a lot of people suffer from problems with their feet and ankles.”
During the 86th Legislative Session in 2019, the university was awarded $42 million for the School of Medicine in startup funds. This year, UTRGV asked for $39.8 million in non-formula funds for the next two years to continue growing the School of Medicine.
“Formula funding is limited due to enrollment caps until full accreditation is received and our young practice plan, while it has grown to over 30 sites across the region, serves a largely uninsured/Medicaid population and lacks a regional hospital district to help support operations,” the rack card states. “Continued start-up funding is necessary to maintain and grow operations and to achieve full accreditation.”
Gonzales said she hopes the state budget, which has not been released yet, stays the same as the last time the session took place, but she is aware there will more than likely be cuts.
“The university had to take a 5% cut,” Gonzales said. “The legislature had asked us to return, basically, the money they gave us from last session; they asked us to return 5%, which we did. They asked all institutions to do that.”
Asked what contingency plan the university has prepared in the event it receives less funds than it requested, Gonzales replied that President Guy Bailey has been “very conservative in spending.”
“We put a hiring freeze in place some time ago,” she said. “We don’t hire new people unless they’re students. We’ve been careful to hold onto money as best we can so that we can continue to grow programs. We’ve had some [Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security] funds that have helped our students, primarily helped the students, and we’ve been able to use some of that also to get the faculty trained in online learning. … So, we have a more robust online teaching that is being done.”
Gonzales said she believes UTRGV should not be greatly affected by small cuts due to the university’s enrollment growth.
“But if it’s a large cut, that would hurt not only UTRGV but all institutions of higher ed across the state,” she said.
The Texas State Legislature began its session Jan. 12 and will continue meeting until May 31. The legislature has not approved or denied the university’s funding requests as of press time.
