(Here's a great guest post from Democrat State Representative Mike Villarreal. - promoted by Phillip Martin)
In just a few days, Texas House and Senate negotiators will sit down to start working out the differences between our two versions of the state budget. One of the biggest decisions will be what to do with TEXAS Grants, our state's main financial aid program for college students with financial need. The House increased TEXAS Grants by $224 million, an increase three times more than the Senate.
If you believe we need to help more Texans afford college, please sign our petition at www.leaderslisten.org.
If the House prevails, 70,000 more students will receive a TEXAS Grant in the next two years.
Receiving a TEXAS Grant improves college completion. The Legislative Budget Board has analyzed the unique impact that receiving a TEXAS Grant has on college completion. It found that receiving a TEXAS Grant improves completion by approximately 45% -- an improvement equivalent to boosting a student's SAT score by 350 points, or increasing a student's high school ranking by 30 percentile points.
In a recent report, the Texas Select Commission on Higher Education Global Competitiveness warned: "Texas is not globally competitive. The state faces a downward spiral in both quality of life and economic competitiveness if it fails to educate more of its growing population to higher levels of attainment, knowledge, and skills."
Help me change that. Sign our petition today. |
