Senate Higher Education – October 12, 2020

The Senate committee on Higher Education met on October 12 to take up a number of items. The committee discussed innovative programs for adult learners, methods to improve data sharing, and to follow up on the implementation of SB 25. A video of the hearing can be found here and the agenda can be found here.

 

The HillCo report below is a summary of remarks intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics discussed. This report is not a verbatim transcript; it is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.

 

Opening Remarks

• Creighton – Need to ask what policies will help students, IHEs, and workforce recover from the economic effects caused by COVID-19 and other workforce issues in the state

 

Adult Learner Students: Examine existing innovative programs in higher education institutions that assist non-traditional students in completing a degree or credential, including first-time adult learners, re-enrolling students, first generation students, working adults, and at-risk students. Provide recommendations on methods the state can use to partner with higher education institutions to expand successful programs throughout the state.

 

Higher Education Commissioner Harrison Keller

• COVID-19 has accelerated the change in available jobs and credentials needed to be a part of the workforce; this charge is more pertinent than ever
• Still at the beginning of rapid change in higher education; changing how education is delivered and who it can be delivered to
• High value postsecondary credentials are insurance against long term unemployment
• Unemployment rates for those without postsecondary credentials are more than twice the unemployment rates than those with bachelors degrees
• Many students are close to finishing credentials
• Highlights the GradTex program that is starting in Houston; to reignite some college no credential population
  • Looking to extend this program statewide; in discussions with other IHEs
  • Unemployment claims have been high in the greater Houston area due to shocks to the energy sector
• Awarded $46.5 in federal GEAR funding focusing on financial aid for those who are upskilling and reskilling; Governor and legislators want those focused on those who have been displaced
  • RFA should be released in the upcoming weeks
• Governor and legislative leadership committed $175 million dollars towards higher education
  • $150 set aside for financial aid for students
• 3.6 million have filed for unemployment and some of those jobs will not be coming back; need to partner to ensure they are reskilled/upskilled

 

Peter Beard, Greater Houston Partnership

• Leads the upskill Houston initiative; strengthens the pipeline of the talent employers need
• Texas economy is shifting to an innovation-based economy; employers are looking for “soft skilled” workers
• Skills are becoming obsolete quickly, economic uncertainty may not be solved through traditional education systems, automation changes and makes jobs obsolete
• Overviews Houston’s projected employment and educational attainment; 40% of existing workforce does not have the education to fill middle and high school occupations
• Employers need to lead reskilling/upskilling work collectively
• Collect workforce information from the Chamber of Commerce; will implement TPM values
• More employers are strengthening internal upskilling/reskilling; a move to skills-based hiring rather than credentials
• Need to be an initial foundation of financial stability for adult learners and strong wraparound services to ensure success; including social services and career coaching

 

Brenda Hellyur, Texas Association of Community Colleges and San Jacinto College

• Community college students are overwhelmingly adult learners; 41% over the age of 22
• Overviews San Jacinto’s enrollment demographics and total certificates and degrees awarded
• Comptroller’s study shows those who have a postsecondary degree earn more than $8,000 more than those with a high school degree
• Overviewed programs with industry partners for maritime, petrochemical, and aerospace programs; enrollment for most of these programs are older students
  • Programs are started by federal and state funds; programs start off non-traditional and industry has made donations and contributions
  • Looking for expansion of these programs
• Industry is leading this; curriculum will be purchased
• Must find more responsive and flexible ways to work with industry
• Thanks Commissioner Keller for his support on their reskilling and upskilling education
  • High demand jobs have changed; need to align solutions with industry
• Looking at business partnerships; looking at credentialing and leveraging dollars
• Comptroller, 61% of CC students stay within 50 miles of those colleges; how do we design programs according to this

 

Questions for the Panel

• West – GEAR Program, those monies have been entrusted, most are going to upskill and reskill some can be used to help with other issues like childcare… what other ways those dollars
  • Keller – Are different needs for older students; transportation, childcare, cost; financial aid can be focused on other wrap around supports
  • Keller – Financial aid dollars are used to: maintaining current need-based programs, emergency aid, and target program support around reskilling and upskilling
  • Keller – Could be a short-term workforce credential
• West – Emergency aid is $93 million?
  • Keller – $46 million
  • Keller – CARES Act; $1.1 billion split 50% emergency aid and 50% to offset COVID-19 costs
  • Keller – $500 million spread across all institutions
• West – Emergency aid, are institutions given discretion on how it should be spent?
  • Keller – Strings came from the federal government; would rather the funding came through the state, have been giving small target grants to institutions for additional funds such as food banks and institutional capabilities to distribute emergency aid
• West – Programs to distribute aid have been implemented?
  • Keller – Yes, but we are not done; another round of grants coming out soon
• West – Career exploration program, what age range, are students provided paid internships?
  • B – Covers the spectrum, offer paid internships; looking past the traditional internship towards paid “mico-internships”
• Taylor – RFA, what are the finishing touches
  • Keller – Providing allocations directly to institutions, want to ensure dollars are focusing on reskilling that will be most productive for the state and workforce
  • Keller – Want to provide flexibilities for institutions can use these funds regionally
• Taylor – Community and four year universities would be included in that?
  • Keller – Usually community colleges and technical institutional; some four-years do upskill
• Taylor – How do you ensure equitable distribution?
  • Keller – Request for application process; aim to use funds strategically
  • Keller – Need to look at how we are going to bring more federal funds to build more capacity for reskilling pathways
• Taylor – Beard, your data is shocking, reinforces need for HB 3;are serious Houston area workforce issues
• Taylor – Can we scale your business and industry model statewide?
  • H – Looking to build a statewide 28 member business advisory committee; 21 would be workforce; planning to launch in November
• Bettencourt – Have a regional problem in Houston, unemployment is off the scale; issues in the oil industry and issues with office capacity going down; what are your thoughts?
  • Keller – COVID-19 and shock to the industry sector disrupted our economy in the Gulf Coast regions; strong partnership with business and higher education partnerships will help with this problem
  • Keller – Unemployment rates are higher in our rural communities; need to address this regionally
  • Beard – 2021, supporting the transition to the clean energy industry in the Houston area
  • Beard – Cannot ignore opportunities to move into the tech industry
  • Hellyur – Concerned about enrollment; high school graduation, enrollment and retainment down significantly
  • Hellyur – Lost critical recruitment time for some programs; may need to recruit by industry
• Bettencourt – Should take sub suppliers to look at movement into the medical industry
• Powell – Keller, have discussed how we meet 60X30 plan due to COVID-19; do not see how we can meet goals without engaging private institutions and include them in 60X30 related grants?
  • Keller – Enrollments are down in career and technical programs; is important that we look at all institutions across the spectrum
• Powell – Hellyur, mentioned enrollment instability; want to focus on getting the right kind of counseling and advising; could you speak to that?
  • Hellyur – That is a critical area; remote counseling has created an additional challenge
  • Hellyur – community colleges have invested additional funds into those supports; get students on a pathway right away
  • Hellyur – Ensuring there are accessible advising resources on the website
• West – How do we deal with the issue of “soft skills”
  • Beard – Essential skills in the workforce like communication, time management and getting to work on time that can transfer to other industries
  • Beard – Upskilling continuously helps strengthen those “soft skills”

 

Carlos Rivers, Institute for Competency-Based Education at A&M University Commerce

• Goal to share ROI for competency-based education
• Founded to support the develop CBE programs across the state/nation
• Supports all goals of Texas’ 60X30 plan
• Overviews the additional baccalaureates programs across the state; CBE is reducing time and cost to degree especially for the adult population
• 36% of adults in Texas have at least an associate degree
• Highlights the newly created online CBE program; program has grown in enrollment and traditional classes continue to decrease in enrollment
  • Saves students approximately $8,000; students less likely to take out loans
• Recommends additional grant funding for program start-up costs
• Recommends recognition of professional certifications; like CBE criminal justice programs
• Recommends exception for the 150% Rule for CBE students; build financial incentives
• Recommends marketing efforts for stop-outs
• Will continue assisting IHEs across the state to develop their own programs
• Will continue conducting CBE research; highlights student success stories
• West – Student participation, also able to get financial aid?
  • Rivers – Yes; map competencies to the credit hour
• West – What degree do they get upon graduation
  • Rivers – Bachelor of Applied Arts in Organizational Leadership and another for law enforcement to upskill
• West – Looking to expand?
  • Rivers – Health administration and mapping OSHA certificates; looking to add 10 new
• Creighton – Have you worked with other IHEs, or other A&M campuses?
  • Rivers – Hold conferences at ACC, partner with other institutions looking to add CBS programs
• Taylor – Last two sessions funding CBE about $1 million by biennium; is enrollment where we can get off of startup funding?
  • Rivers – Program at A&M is self-sustaining; however, we support all programs across the state
• Taylor – Seek additional funding because it is statewide?
  • Yes
• Taylor – How much student debt do students usually bring with them?
  • Rivers – Will get back to you

 

Dr. Beth Brunk-Chavez, UTEP

• Need for increased access for adult learner education, 5^th highest rate of incomplete degrees in the nation
• Overviews the Finish at UT collaborative online degree program; allows students to enroll at one institution, but can sign up for online classes at other universities in the system
• For those who are already enrolled and those who are coming back to finish degree
• All resources are supported by the UT System; all revenue is retained at those campuses
• Program has supported over 17,000 students; mostly serves students above college age
• Finish at UT could expand its reach across Texas by:
• Expanding outreach to students who have stopped-out
• Strategically aligning student and institution needs
• Investing in student support; like digital sources
• Expanding offerings to include technical associates degrees and other certifications

 

Data Transparency: Explore methods to improve data sharing and transparency among state agencies, school districts and charter schools, and higher education institutions. Consider best practices to increase the ability of high schools and higher education institutions to support student post-secondary access and degree completion and how to provide policymakers with data on each. Recommend methods of integrating existing data systems at the K-12 and higher education levels to provide real-time support and direction for students.

 

Higher Education Commissioner Harrison Keller

• CB serves as a steward for educational and workforce data; highlights information currently shared including, financial data and K-12 higher education/workforce data
• Data is not always useful or readily accessible; disparities among higher education on hosting this data
• Started transitioning data research centers to a more effective resource for higher education
• Need to improve data infrastructure and analytics; started at the beginning of the year on the planning process
• CARES Act funds were mostly allocated to financial aid; $10 million for online teaching and learning and $15 million to update data infrastructure
• Looking to protect student data; will be used to power better advising tools
• Will be employing new and licensing existing data tools
• Working to analyze who has been most impacted and which occupations and skills will drive economic recovery
• Aim to retain Black, Hispanic, and financially disadvantaged students who have been disproportionally hit by the COVID-19 pandemic
• West – Where are these Education Research Centers housed? Do they receive state allocation?
  • Keller – UT Austin, UT Dallas, and UH that are multi-institutional partnerships
  • Keller – Received start up seed capital, now funded through indirect and fees through the Education Research Centers; made it harder to stay current on infrastructure
  • Keller – This year, allowed remote access through rulemaking
• West – Will some of that $15 million to be used for these research centers?
  • Keller – Will modernize infrastructure and for IHEs to connect more easily to our data infrastructure
• West – Written testimony, can you give student GPA/enrollment data snapshot by districts?
  • Keller – Will give that information to the committee; aim to expand the data collected by district
• Bettencourt – Problem will be enrollment issue?
  • Keller – Higher ed enrollments are going down rather than up in times of economic crisis; poses long term threat

 

Dr. Eric Ban, Dallas County Promise – Commit Partnership

• Provides an overview of the DCP that aimed to align jobs and college credentials with a low cost and students supports
• 12 universities and 57 high schools have partnered with the program; enrollment has increased
• Aim to expand into Houston, Tyler and Fort Worth
• State education agencies should create a model FERPA compliant data sharing agreement template and a common ID across K-12 through higher education to ease administrative burdens and costs of collaborating
  • Austin and Dallas have been working on FERPA compliance templates
• Should increase existing Texas PEIMS to be common local IDs; would allow information sharing from K-12 and IHEs
• West – Need a FERPA compliant ID, need HIPPA related ID for social services
• Bettencourt – How has COVID-19 affected DCP?
  • Ban – Four-year enrollment is okay, but community college enrollment is down
• Flores – Legislature could incentivize collaborations? What would do this?
  • Ban – Ensuring sustainable scholarship funding; support for intermediaries like DCP

Dr. Pete Smith, UT Arlington

• Have been investing in the use of data and analytics; goal to modernize use of data on campus
• Created an office to use data to impact/support students; bought SAS and Civitas data analytics packages
• Models are built on students based upon how likely that student is going to graduate
• Advisors/faculty look at models daily and interventions are based on a high degree of accuracy
• Bettencourt – What are the key things you are proving the administration with? Having better success in different colleges?
  • Smith – Can see an ROI; system has a role in retention of students
  • Smith – Had systems for 4 years, have not benchmarked the total ROI
• Flores – What are the metrics for success?
  • Smith – Models are different for different students in different colleges; includes financial aid, success in core courses and logging in/being a regular participant

 

Link Aligner, Lone Star College System

• Created an office of analytics/research in 2015; needed to use data to access student success
• Program has grown to include institutions from across the nation; trained experts across the institution
• Used data to form student pathways from K-12 through IHEs; helps with student retention and speed of credentialing/getting degrees
• Recommends a data sharing practice form K-12, higher education and through the workforce

 

Dr. Rebecca Riley, Lone Star College System

• Analytics helped with recruitment, enrollment, retention, and keeping them on-track
• Use a number of analytics strategies to recommend certain courses to students
• Bettencourt – You can identify a mistake on the course patten, and students take the recommendation?
  • Riley – Correct and yes
• Creighton – How long has this program been in place?
• Powell – Is this a part of the advisory process?
  • Riley – Yes, advisors identify and reach out to struggling students; especially those who have stopped out or are accumulating extraneous hours
• Powell – Would require consistent advising?
  • Riley – Yes that is true

 

Monitoring: Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Higher Education passed by the 86th Legislature, as well as relevant agencies and programs under the committee’s jurisdiction. Specifically, make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, or complete implementation of Senate Bill 25, elating to measures to facilitate the                    transfer, academic progress, and timely graduation of students in higher education.

 

Higher Education Commissioner Harrison Keller

• Despite agency and institution disruptions SB 25 implementation is underway and on track
• Receiving initial data and formal reports will be submitted in March
• SB 25 required ApplyTexas to ask consent for applications to be shared with other institutions or to be considered for another program; has been implemented
• SB 25 required students to file for degree programs earlier/extended the opportunity to dual credit students; rules were created in December and was enacted this academic year
• SB 25 required institutions to develop at least one recommended course sequence for each undergraduate degree program; will start 2021-2022 school year
  • Currently are searching for rulemaking committee members
• Discussions last session focused on whether or not meta-majors should be enacted; did not find a resolution
• SB 25 charged higher institutions to collect input on how to manage the meta-major and transfer process
• Created a group that is compiling recommendations on how to facilitate transfer; including by looking at how other states do so
• West – Will taxpayers, parents, students see any reduction for lost semester credit hours?
  • Keller – Will help students to see more applicability to their degree pathway
  • Keller – Will be the first state to recommend course sequences across IHEs
• West – When would it be best to measure the effectiveness of a lowered cost in higher education?
  • Keller – Pandemic has shifted things, will see some of the effects quickly
  • Keller – Will see fully realized changes in 3 to 4 years of implementation