2025 Legislative Priorities

Increased Formula Funding
The UH System encourages the Legislature to adopt the formula recommendations from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. These recommendations include funding for enrollment growth and inflation across all formulas. This would significantly alleviate the inflation-driven financial pressures on our universities and help keep the cost of attendance affordable for students

Equal Funding for Health-Related Programs
This request supports the recommendations of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board regarding the initiation of a health care workforce program supplement. This supplement would help equalize funding health-related programs offered at General Academic Institutions, ensuring that all students receive the necessary resources and support for their educational endeavors. 

Higher Education Fund (HEF)
The HEF is critical in addressing deferred maintenance for aging buildings and funding for new facilities at our universities. As part of this legislative session, the Legislature is statutorily tasked with reviewing the recommendations from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board regarding the allocation methodology and funding levels for the HEF over the next ten-year period. The UH System requests that the Legislature prioritize funding for the HEF appropriation and adopt the recommended allocation methodology. 

Financial Aid/TEXAS Grants
Many students in our universities do not have financial support from their families; instead, they often work multiple jobs to finance their education while relying heavily on financial aid. Without increased investment in state-supported financial aid, these students may face insurmountable barriers to attending and completing their degrees. Providing TEXAS grants for eligible students will allow those with the greatest financial need to attend public universities in our state.

Capital Construction Assistance Projects (CCAPs)
While the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that higher education could deliver quality online education, it also revealed that most students value in-person educational experiences. To continue meeting the educational needs of our growing student population, the UH System is requesting that the 89^th Legislature authorize new CCAPs, including funding for projects that were either omitted or received inadequate support in the last CCAP-related legislation. 

Hazlewood Exemptions
The UH System remains fully committed to supporting veterans and their families by expanding access to higher education opportunities. To ensure that universities serve our veteran community effectively, we request that the Legislature either maintain the current level of funding for the Hazelwood Legacy Program or increase funding to cover 100% of the Legacy Program costs at institutions.

Funding for Comprehensive Regional Universities
The state’s 27 Comprehensive Regional Universities (CRUs) are essential in addressing the decline in direct enrollment from high school to college and in closing the graduation rate gaps. Increasing CRU funding will drive enrollment and improve graduation rates at our state’s regional universities, which provide the skilled employees entering the workforce in regional economies across the state.

University of Houston Special Funding Requests

Secure an Academic Teaching Hospital ($200M)

• Provides necessary clinical rotations in the Houston area to support the growth of the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine and increase the number of doctors practicing in Texas.
• Establishes clinical rotations at an academic teaching hospital, ensuring medical students can apply their knowledge and skills in real-world settings under the supervision of experienced healthcare professionals.
• Supports the goal of enrolling 120 University of Houston medical students annually.

Construct a New College of Optometry Building ($175M)

• As the only state-supported college of optometry, UH College of Optometry is the
• primary educator of optometrists throughout our state, and it is critical that it provides a cutting-edge education to our students.
• Constructed almost a half century ago, the Armistead College of Optometry building
• faces critical infrastructure issues, including persistent moisture-related damage and
• unresolvable foundation issues.
• Its period of usefulness has passed and a new facility must be constructed to:
  • Create modern lecture classrooms and laboratory teaching spaces;
  • Enhance clinic practice suites to help prepare students for modern clinical
  • practice as primary eyecare providers; and
  • Accommodate the demand for community care that is provided to the
  • Houston region.
• New construction will enable the college to enroll up to 25 additional students yearly, helping to further meet the eyecare needs of Texans.

Fund the Texas Research Incentive Program Backlog* ($175M)

• Entails the state preserving appropriations to the state-supported Texas Research Incentive Program matching program. TRIP has allowed emerging research universities to advance significant research initiatives and to become nationally competitive Tier One research universities.
• Addresses the $511 million backlog of unfunded TRIP program donations, $175 million of which is scheduled to be allocated to the University of Houston.
• Ensures that our institutions can compete with other universities across the nation and enhance Texas’s position as a leader in research and innovation.

*TRIP data from August 2024

Additional Start-Up Funds for the Fertitta Family College of Medicine ($30 Million)

• Supports hiring additional faculty to accommodate the expansion to 120 students annually.
• Expands the college’s interdisciplinary research focused on preventive care and community-based health solutions.
• Facilitates the expansion of student clinical rotations in the Rio Grande Valley, increasing opportunities for hands-on training in underserved areas.

Establish Perioperative Nursing Center of Excellence, Training and Education ($15M)

• Supports the establishment of a Perioperative Nursing Center of Excellence within the Andy and Barbara Gessner College of Nursing at the UH at Sugar Land instructional site. The first of its kind center will:
  • Act as a resource to train new and experienced nurses with skills needed
  • to practice in operating rooms, a critical subspecialty within nursing practice.
  • Grow to have the potential to serve students throughout the nation and act as revenue generator for the college.
  • Contribute to conducting critical research to improve perioperative nursing practices