UHCL receives $85.1 million in state funding
For the 2016 fiscal school year, UHCL received $85.1 million in funding from the 84th Texas State Legislature. Below is breakdown of where the money will be spent.
- $6.5 million ($3.25 million per year) was reimbursed to UHCL for the four-year expansion that took place in 2014.
- $54 million was awarded for a new Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Classroom Building for the UHCL campus.
- $24.6 million for a new Health Sciences Building for the UHCL Pearland campus.
UHCL President William Staples held a presentation Sept. 9 on campus to outline the funding developments.
“We got 100 percent of what we asked for,” Staples said of the May 2015 legislative session. “Out of the 38 Texas public universities, UHCL was one of two universities that received funding for two new building project. It was a very, very, very good (session) for UHCL.”
Because UHCL did not receive additional funding during the 2013 legislative session, administrators had to reach into the school’s savings in order to welcome freshmen and sophomores for the first time in the fall 2014 semester.
Staples also announced that UHCL was granted approval by the state to propose a referendum to the student body that would authorize a fee to fund a recreation and wellness center. Students should have already received an email from Campus Recreation Staff to their UHCL email account by Sept. 10 asking them to complete a survey regarding interest in a new facility.
The email advises students to “keep an eye out for the Student Referendum in October.”
These new building projects will mean academic expansion for UHCL programs.
“You’re really going to see development on campus,” Staples said.
Last year UHCL added 43 new staff members who all need office space as well as classrooms.
The new Health Sciences Classroom building at UHCL-Pearland will be graduating its first group of RN to BSN students in December this year. Out of 45 applicants in the inaugural semester of Fall 2014, 11 remain enrolled.
Here at the Clear Lake campus, the new STEM building will see a new Pre-engineering program begin in 2016. This program was implemented after UH System administrators approached Carl Stockton, senior vice president of academic affairs and provost, about allowing students to funnel through UHCL in order to apply to engineering programs at other campuses.
Stockton, who took the lectern after Staples, said he asked “What’s in it for us?” in response to the UH System request.
After some negotiation, Stockton was able to secure the right to put a proposal together for a BS in Mechanical Engineering for UHCL students that could be offered by Fall 2018 if the program makes it through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
The provost calls this concentration, “in high demand.”
Another program in the pipeline for approval is a BS in Counseling that will be reviewed in November.
Stockton also emphasized the need for staff and faculty to address enrollment numbers.
As incoming freshmen and sophomores have added to enrollment, graduate student enrollment has slumped. Domestic graduate enrollment has decreased from 2,500 in Fall 2015 to 1,798 in 2016. And international graduate enrollment is projected to increase slightly but may remain flat if even a small number of incoming students drop.
“We need to sit down and look at our admissions, our academic programs, recruitment and work together,” Stockton said. “We need to talk about how to turn this trend around.”
Stockton is scheduled to meet with all four schools throughout the semester to stay abreast of any issues that affect enrollment.
Staples commented on how successful the transition has been because it was done at the right time, and was planned that way.
“I don’t just say this to say it, it was probably one of the most successful transitions from an upper-level to a four-year in the history of upper-level institutions,” Staples said.
To view the presentation online click here.
