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The week of October 26, Texas Tribune hosted a virtual symposium “The Future of Higher Education.” Discussions from the symposium include student enrollment, college sports, and the impact of COVID-19. All of the videos from the week-long symposium 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. 

Day One: The View from the Top

Moderated by Mathew Watkins, The Texas Tribune

Brian McCall, Texas State University Chancellor

Tedd Mitchell, Texas Tech Chancellor

Q. How is it going trying to run a college campus during this pandemic?

  • Mitchell – One of the safest places in Lubbock is the Texas Tech campus
  • Mitchell – Consistently communicating with staff, students, and families has been key for keeping everyone’s safety; highlights COVID-19 planning meetings within the university

Q: What is helping you keep contraction numbers low on all of your campuses?

  • McCall – Have been consistently testing; will spend about $90 million system wide for COVID related costs, but it’s working to keep the numbers down

Q. McCall How is quality of education being affected?

  • Mitchell – About 20% of our semester hours prior to COVID were already online; difference now is the magnitude of people going online
  • Mitchell – About a third of students are attending classes by: face-to-face, hybrid, or online
  • Mitchell – There is a downside, but also upsides of online learning; looking at trajectory of higher education in general
  • Mitchell – Things were moving toward being online prior to COVID, for example, telehealth is becoming widely used
  • McCall – Already seeing stopped-out students return to get credentials; seeing positive effects

Q. Have there been any concerns about face to face communication?

  • Mitchell – Young people are much more adept to online things in general
  • Mitchell – Complete college experience is getting lost; the capacity to conversation with students or teachers some are lost in translation when courses are online
  • Mitchell – Biggest limitation being online is broadband access; whether they are in rural areas, or lower-socioeconomic students

Q. Tribune reported wide-spread vaccinations will not be available until summer at the earliest, what will next semester look like?

  • McCall – Predictions are that student enrollment will be up again; a problem we have encountered students were running through their data plans in a week
  • McCall – Rep. Price is leading the charge on addressing the digital divide

Q. What has been the financial impact of pandemic?

  • Mitchell – Schools have been working on their own Rainy-Day Funds before COVID-19
  • Mitchell – Have had a substantial loss in revenue while simultaneously significant increase in expenses in moving everything online 
  • McCall – Some campuses having to lay off administrators and dipping into reserves
  • McCall – The bond payments for dorms continue even though revenue is not coming in, not able to generate revenue from some of the football teams
  • McCall – Have taken a $23 million cut
  • CARES and Gear funding was a huge help for both McCall and Mitchell

Q. What do you expect from appropriations process? How should the legislature be thinking about higher education?

  • McCall – Need to focus on the costs of Higher ed as is a great investment and is growing
  • McCall – Should keep the formula predictable
  • McCall – Using buildings at half capacity; notes tuition revenue bonds
  • Mitchell – Higher ed has a high ROI; we work to try and find other sources of income than just state or federal funding
  • Mitchell – Our focus for session is formula funding; is what we rely on
  • Mitchell – Concerning TRB, looking at taking older buildings and refurbishing  

Q. College football affected by pandemic for TTU; long term how is that going to affect things?

  • Mitchell – Football makes up the lion share percentage of overall athletics department; bottom line has been affected substantially
  • Mitchell – Trying to play football as much as we can testing weekly; if you cannot play one weekend you can lose millions of dollars
  • McCall – Huge hit to everyone’s bottom line at operational standpoint

 

Day One: Serving Students in Need

Moderated by Sara Hebel, The Texas Tribune

Jacob Fraire, Texas Association of Community Colleges CEO

Ruth Simmons, Prairie View A&M President

Q. During this time, it can be challenging for students to feel hopeful; how do you respond to that?

  • Simmons – Many students are having difficulty with finances since the pandemic is leaving so many people unemployed
  • Simmons – Working hard to contextualize the importance of the investment in higher education

Q. Jacob, you did a study of how COVID is affecting students; what struck you the most from this survey and how did you respond to it?

  • Fraire – We are making sure we were hearing from our students in real time and are in tune with them in biggest challenges
  • Fraire – Found most students had already been displaced from workplace and experienced a loss of income; most reported they would not have access to $500 if there was an emergency
  • Fraire – Have provided more emergency aid for students to help with expenses
  • Fraire – Many students have dependents at home; students had less time to find a quiet place to continue study

Q. What is one intervention that you have tried you have found to be most helpful to keep students in higher education?

  • Simmons – Continuing to push on the rules to ensure that we are being adaptable
    • Have extended deadlines when students could not complete applications
    • Instituted increased emergency funding and food pantries
    • Stepped up counseling, mental health facilities, and telehealth because of the pressure on students
  • Fraire – Have been making sure that students have heard from our office whether it was an academic counselor or advisor
  • Fraire – Seeing that we will have 9% reduction in enrollment in fall compared to fall 2019
  • Simmons – Our enrollment is up, but many students have stayed on campus because that is where they felt most safe and secure; have reduced the number of face-to-face classes

Q. What have you learned from your students that has surprised you?

  • Fraire – Many challenges have long preceded pandemic such as inequity and the digital divide
  • Fraire – Have Learning how much these students are lacking in resources
  • Simmons – Learned how quickly we can move to different instructional modalities
  • Simmons – Is difficult to galvanize around a radically different mode of delivery to the students and keep the trust
  • Simmons – We are doing better than bad because we are providing a sanctuary for our students at a very difficult time
  • Simmons – Students widely dislike online learning, being on campus is important for our students; need wrap around services

Q. What is at stake here?

  • Fraire – Short-term, a major step back in the measurable phenomenal progress made among students of color
  • Fraire – Long-term huge generational impact in terms of socioeconomic outcomes; biggest drop is on enrollment in first time college students
  • Simmons – Everything is at stake; will lose potential students, lose talent in the workforce, lose families that depend on the elevation of the children to the middle class to help them climb out of poverty

 

Day 2: Making Policy

Moderated by Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune

Harrison Keller, Texas Higher Education Commissioner

Chris Turner, House Higher Education Committee Chairman

Q. What were you looking for in this upcoming legislative session pre-pandemic and now what are you looking for?

  • Keller – Starting out a year ago the budget prospects looked very good, now it is a completely different environment
  • Keller – Looking at what a higher education finance bill look would mirror some of the kinds of advances HB3 made in terms of equity for school districts/overall increased investments
  • Turner – Prior to pandemic we were looking to do work in higher education this session
  • Turner – In the current biennium it is estimated we will have a $4.6 billion budget shortfall
  • Turner – Education is key to strengthening, rebuilding, and growing our economy for the future; cannot backslide on public education funding
  • Turner – Cannot look at higher education as a place to go look up to make up revenue; has happened in the past

Q. How much of what you are thinking about doing can be done without money?

  • Keller – Some of the conversations we were having were things that don’t require a lot of additional funding
  • Keller – Working to retool the 60X30 goals to focus on re-skilling and upskilling

Q. What are the different things that you are presenting to the legislature that you had not thought of pre-COVID?

  • Keller – The need to re-skill and upskill is even more urgent than it was a few months ago as unemployment has skyrocketed
  • Keller – Has accelerated innovation, how we deliver education, and who we deliver it to

Q. How are lawmakers thinking about higher education now?

  • Turner – People generally have an understanding of how valuable and important higher education is right now
  • Turner – In an economic downturn need to give Texans the educational opportunities they need
  • Turner – Hopes to expand upon a bill from last session concerning transferability
  • Turner – Open educational resources

Q. What is the appropriations process like this time? What is the argument for keeping higher ed out of the elimination game?

  • Turner – Higher education stakeholders and advocates need to continue to make the case as to why higher education is a valuable investment
  • Turner – Need to highlight the good work in higher ed whether it’s the cunning edge health care research/delivery or the innovative ways they went online in a span of two weeks
  • Turner – Legislature is going to need to figure out how we are going to pay for our priorities; legislature needs to take a sunset review process to that
  • Turner – We need to expand Medicaid under the ACA; would bring in close to $10 billion a year in federal funding which would relieve pressure on the healthcare side of the budget
  • Keller – Higher education is one of the ways that we are going to get through this crisis; need smart strategic investments in higher education can help accelerate the recovery

Q. How is the issue of broadband going to be dealt with in the upcoming legislature?

  • Turner – Broadband access is an acute issue for many Texans both in rural and urban and suburban areas
  • Turner – We know it is impossible for someone to conduct business as a student or an employee if they do not have access to broadband
  • Turner – Broadband is a good example of where there can be good bi-partisan support and urban and rural support to do something meaningful
  • Turner addresses the need to pass a tuition revenue bond bill
  • Keller – Need to make smart and strategic investments so that we are really enabling higher education to play this role to drive the Texas recovery

 

Day 2: The Academic Transformation

Moderated by Kate McGee, The Texas Tribune

Wil Del Pilar, Higher Education at the Education Trust VP

Sharra Hynes, Baylor University Associate VP and Dean of Students

Q. How is the fall going so far? And what did you learn from this pandemic experience?

  • Hynes – We learned how to work fast and pivot all the ways we interact with students in a week
  • Hynes – Characterize things day by day but is optimistic

Q. Where have you seen successes and fails while moving online?

  • Del Pilar – Institutions are resourced differently which put some campuses at a disadvantage
  • Del Pilar – The students that you do not hear from is a large concern; need to investigate those possible needs

Q. How did you address internet access and challenges at Baylor?

  • Hynes – We made accommodations for students who had internet access challenges to be able to stay on campus; students will remain supported through the spring semester

Q. Are schools being flexible enough to serve low income students?

  • Del Pilar – Low-income students who must work or are essential workers may not be able to dedicate their time to be at school; have been flexible

Q. How are states and schools ensure students not dropping out?

  • Del Pilar – Federal government needs to do additional stimulus bill for Texas institutions and students
  • Del Pilar –Need to support early childhood all the way through post-secondary
  • Del Pilar – Need to think about how we are deploying resources to support students who were/are already at risk
  • Del Pilar – Difference between students staying and leaving can sometimes be as little as $25

Q. What kind of position does it put Baylor in if there are no additional resources to help low income students they have on campus?

  • Hynes – As a private institution may be able to call on alumni, leverage endowments; for a lot of institutions those resources are not available
  • Hynes – Greatest challenge is students not knowing resources the school has available; trying to get information into the hands of those that need it

Q. Is it time to reboot education from brick and mortar to more of a hybrid structure?

  • Hynes – Yes, need more flexibility for trade schools as well; will see continuous change
  • Hynes – Huge supporter in face to face mechanisms of education

Q. How do you think a shift to hybrid could help or hurt education?

  • Del Pilar – Seeing low income students opting to take a gap year because they don’t have resources right now; most of the time if they don’t start, they never go back

Q. How do we access rural Texans when we didn’t have access to them previously? 

  • Del Pilar – Face to face is always going to be a need ; most important thing you get out of higher ed is the networking aspect of it
  • Del Pilar – Networking is not occurring with at home learning; value of the out of class experience is limited
  • Hynes – Students have noted it is difficult to develop routines to do hybrid courses

Q. Experience of college, paying for it but now lost but students still having to pay tuition

  • Hynes – It is different, not as much volume of experience; missing out on traditions that they haven’t been able to provide

Q. What parts of online learning do you want to see remain?

  • Hynes – Providing students with the flexibility without making them feel they are putting anyone at risk
  • Del Pilar – Still issue of equity

Q. In a few weeks, students will be heading home for the semester. Are you worried about students making transition home safely? How are you preparing?

  • Hynes – Increasing COVID tests, particularly students who could be asymptomatic
  • Hynes – Encouraging students to be more mindful of their gatherings
  • Del Pilar – Transmission has not been in classroom but in the community and recognizing to be mindful when they come back in January

 

Day 3: Workforce is Job No. 1

Moderated by Mitchell Ferman, The Texas Tribune

Drexell Owusu, Dallas Regional Chamber

Margaret Spellings, Former United States Education Secretary

Q. How is higher education in Texas drowning?

  • Spelling – There is a need for more federal support
  • Owusu – There is a need for more federal funding in higher education institutions
  • Owusu – Inspiring students and the impact of COVID has gotten a lot more difficult but the sentiment is still the same

Q. How has COVID affected higher education?

  • Spelling – We have an inefficient system and we need to get the system much more clear
  • Spelling – Have no room to let students make mistakes and meander through higher education
  • Spelling – Employer and community need to be specific with higher education about what they need and are looking for; need to make the marketplace more efficient
  • Owusu – What the employer community is demanding is often not what people having higher ed degrees in
  • Owusu – Reinventing ways we are delivering education through technology
  • Spelling – Mental health should be at the top of list with helping students find coping mechanisms

Q. What other things has the state highlighted?

  • Spelling – Recognizing mental health, access to food, not enough resources; need to think about higher education as a marketplace
  • Spelling – Need to be smarter about how we organize ourselves for success

Q. How do colleges in Texas need to re-think how we make money

  • Owusu – Re-think Public policy landscape
  • How much value do we place in those workforce credentials?

Q. How can Texas prepare students to enter workforce when they can’t afford to pay for school?

  • Spelling – Critical to address these things in upcoming legislative session
  • Spelling – Higher education housing is a major revenue source; increased cost of keeping students safe, tested, and masked
  • Spelling – Legislature can provide broadband ubiquity; broadband does not really extend to higher ed to support students with access issues

Q. How do you achieve these legislative wins when so many budgets are getting cut?

  • Spelling – Working with collaborations; need more unanimity in higher ed in terms of pricing and safety
  • Spelling – Help educate legislature about the need for long-term thinking; dealing with the future of our state and economy

Q. How is higher ed in Texas preparing students for this reality?

  • Spelling – Trying to strengthen relationship between higher ed and employer community
  • Spelling – Students today are learning how to adapt, be resilient, and creative which will serve them in the future
  • Owusu – Marketplace is changing because of this and having positive developments; better placement process than we have ever had before will come from this

 

Day 4: Heads of the Class

Moderated by Kate McGee, The Texas Tribune

Janet Bezner, Texas State University Professor

Guillermina Núñez-Mchiri, Texas El Paso Professor

Q. What is it like teaching hybrid classes in time of COVID?

  • Bezner – Preparation for classes are a lot different; more time and energy invested weekly
  • Benzer – Losing out on the social aspect of learning because students work with the same lab group all semester
  • Núñez-Mchiri – Most professors are teaching from home even though the intentions might have been face to face which hascaused a lot of conflict
  • Núñez-Mchiri – Even when face to face is offered very few students actually show up

Q. How has faculty been dealing with completely having to rearrange how you think about your professions?

  • Bezner – There have been no breaks since March which leads to getting burnt out
  • Núñez-Mchiri – The work life continuum at home doesn’t seem to separate when you are at home; hard to have a separate work and home life, is a direct hit to research productivity

Q. The hybrid model that you are working with now, how is the engagement aspect of that?

  • Bezner – Decided to do lectures online in the morning and do labs in the afternoon which is working well but can really see more lack of engagement in the AM
  • Bezner – Are doing lunchtime series around culture, justice, and racism which has been very helpful in bringing conversation between students
  • Bezner – Trying to get as much resources that the students need as possible, but lack of technology is still an issue

Q. What are the pros and cons of requiring students to have videos on in class?

  • Núñez-Mchiri – Not everyone is privileged it can be an invasion of privacy for the students to be required to go on
  • Núñez-Mchiri–Students are very much aware that people are able to look into their personal space on video
  • Núñez-Mchiri–Have been told to plan for spring just the way they did in fall in-regards to online teaching

Q. Are you still surprised to be teaching in person in-regards to this hybrid model?

  • Bezner – Surprised but we had a lot of conversation with students about how to progress through this program

Q. What kind of makes you nervous about spring semester?

  • Núñez-Mchiri – I am most worried about first generation students and do not want them to feel abandoned or that they feel as though they can’t access counseling
  • Núñez-Mchiri – We have an opportunity to revolutionize and innovate higher education, hopeful to return to a balance of healthy options
  • Bezner – What keeps me up is do we have the endurance to keep going for 6 months?
  • Bezner – The kids who I am most worried about are the students that we aren’t seeing this semester
  • Bezner – The college experience and community that these students are missing out on is a very hard hit

 

Day 4: The Student Experience

Moderated by Sami Sparber, The Texas Tribune

Sarah Brennan Student, UT Dallas Government President

Jasmine Khademakbari, University of Houston President of Student Government Association

Q. How has your experience online been, and do you feel as though it is an equal educational experience?

  • Brennan – The hardest part about transitioning to online classes is the option to do your class asynchronously which makes it easier for a lot of kids to procrastinate but it does make it easier for students who have harder schedules or who work during the week
  • Khademakbari – Students who work and have to meet online at a specific time for class has cost a lot of students’ jobs due to that inflexibility
  • Khademakbari – Given the economic climate students might be having to prioritize their job over specific school hours so asynchronous classes are helpful for them
  • Khademakbari – The lockdown browsers in tests adds to testing anxiety; some students might not have internet access or webcams to access

Q. Do you think universities should be lowering tuitions due to being online?

  • Brennan – From both angles there is a lose-lose situation
  • Brennan – Need to figure out how to cut down the cost while still providing quality education
  • Khademakbari – We have record enrollment right now but still not in the best financial situation
  • Khademakbari – Online classes are not the same experience as there are more barriers, some tuition should be given back
  • Khademakbari – Students want transparency about where the money is going

Q. How are you maintaining connections with your peers and professors?

  • Brennan – Fortunate enough to have been at the university long enough to have previously established connections
  • Brennan – It is a lot harder for freshman having to make connections through virtual avenues
  • Brennan – Has been harder to connect with professors, even when in hybrid classes because you do not see them as often and don’t converse as much
  • Khademakbari – All the connections that were made were previous to the pandemic
  • Khademakbari – Online engagement levels are low with freshman; have been trying to reach out to people that you normally would not reach out to is vital

Q. Do you think your peers are taking the pandemic seriously and what advice are you giving them?

  • Brennan – There is a large discrepancy between students because some take it very seriously and others do not
  • Brennan – Have had very low active number of cases on campus because the university has been very vigilant about in person gatherings
  • Khademakbari – U of H is primarily a commuter campus, so we have very low numbers of students actually living on campus
  • Khademakbari – Off-campus parties are a slight concern but for the most part students have been taking COVID very seriously

Q. What are top concerns right now?

  • Brennan – Mental health has been a big concern. Our university has been making sure that mental health counseling is readily available
  • Brennan – The diversity and equity that the pandemic has hit differently to students in different socioeconomic backgrounds and making sure we have as much resources available to them
  • Khademakbari – Mental health has been on the forefront of everyone’s minds and making sure that we can reach our peers virtually and get them the counseling they need
  • Khademakbari – Students with disabilities have taken a harder hi as it has been harder to get their accommodations fulfilled in a timely manner

Q. What are your takeaways from fall semester and what would you like to see your university do in the spring?

  • Brennan – The main take away is that we can do this, and our generation is resilient; need safer in person interaction
  • Brennan – A large take away from this semester is that even though we have classes right now it is not the same as in-person we need to look for ways to have that engagement in a virtual environment
  • Khademakbari – Biggest take away students can make a really big difference on campus it has been so inspiring to see my peers take a stand,
  • Khademakbari – With the protests we did not see a big spike follow, so there is a possibility to be able to have civic engagement in person but in a safe manner
  • Khademakbari – We can make a difference, but we must cooperate and work together and look out for the safety of others

Q. What would you say is the most important thing K-12 schools can prepare their students for college?

  • Brennan – Knowing your goals and having that mentorship is the key to preparation
  • Khademakbari – Giving people the knowledge of all their options and paths they have when furthering their education

 

Day 5: Building the Pipeline

Moderated by Evan Smith, The Texas Tribune

Lisa Blazer Associate, Texas A&M University

Ruth N. Lopez Turley, Rice University

Q. How do you think higher education is doing at achieving its goals?

  • Blazer – In a lot of respects doing very well
  • Blazer – A lot of institutions are not only focusing on how do we get them to the universities but how do we get them to graduate?

Q. Big public and small private is there a way to talk about the two institutions and compare the success of the two?

  • Turley – That’s difficult because each institution has different resources

Q. Are we better off than we were 10 years ago?

  • Blazer – We have so many more resources at our institutions than we did 10 years ago
  • Blazer – We have taken things way more seriously and know that if we put these resources on the map for our students our community and institutions will thrive
  • Turley – Still have a long-way to go in terms of getting equitable access to students; things are improving but we have so many inequities that are still so persistent

Q. In terms of being a longways to go is it at an institutional level or a policy maker level?

  • Turley – All of the above. We are focusing more on the K-12 pipeline that gets students ready for secondary education

Q. What are some of the things you have learned that have been critical inputs that are putting these students on the path to success?

  • Turley – We are finding that college advisors in high school play a very significant role
  • Turley – Students who are meeting with college advisors are more likely to enroll and more likely to complete college
  • Blazer – The schools that have a lot of minority students are also schools that do not have as many college advisors, that is an equity issue we are trying to raise

Q. How do we welcome and accommodate into higher education populations of color that’s increasing overtime and how do we need to be orienting our thinking over to that specific group?

  • Turley – We need to be aware of the needs that these populations have, the way that our institutions of higher ed are structured and how we can support them
  • Turley – People taking longer to complete college so that means our institutions of higher ed need to take that into consideration
  • Turley – We need to look at the demographic coming into our institutions they may be working while going to school and we need to be aware of that and help them have resources

Q. How has the conversation around higher ed changed in the last 10 years?

  • Blazer – The value of a college degree is more valuable than ever; need to be careful that we are not funneling one type of student in a certain trajectory

Q. How has the pandemic affected this conversation about racial disparity in higher ed? The pandemic has been hard on colored communities in many ways but especially through the education door it seems. Do you think this period of time will have a material effect on the future of higher ed and the trajectory of these students that we are talking about?

  • Turley – These issues have been around for a very long time, but they are just now getting heightened attention surrounding them
  • Turley – The issue is that the pandemic is having a much greater impact on minorities for a variety of reasons 
  • Turley – We have to acknowledge that the impact is different for minorities and we want to make sure they have equal equitable education opportunities
  • Turley – We need to make sure everyone is getting the resources they need especially in this time of remote learning

 

Day 5: Price vs. Cost vs. Value

Moderated by Evan Smith, The Texas Tribune

Archie Holmes, University of Texas System

Jamie Meisotis, Lumina Foundation CEO

Q. What have we learned by this unprecedented health crisis scrambles the numbers for higher ed?

  • Holmes – Our students are resilient in the ability to continue their education in the wide variety of ways they are taking courses; students are adjusting to this new reality
  • Holmes – We have seen costs go up in terms of being able to provide technology to students so they can participate in their courses 

Q. Earlier this week the New York Times referred to this time as “the most painful period for higher education” is that what you are hearing around the country?

  • Holmes – I think the story is mixed right now nationally; nationally enrollment is down this year
  • Holmes – The bigger issue is how we are seeing this play out in different ways, you are seeing different messages in different areas of the country
  • Meisotis – Tuitions have been increasing faster than the rate of inflation for the past decade

Q. Are you seeing within the higher education industry in Texas enrollment any declines?

  • Homes – We are not seeing it to the extent other states are; overall across the system we are seeing a slight increase
  • Meisotis – Community colleges are being harder hit by the impact of COVID

Q. A lot of people have asked why you haven’t reduced tuition?

  • Holmes – The long-standing cost of providing education regardless whether it is online or in person does not change
  • Holmes – The ability to be able to put material online brings cost to the university as well

Q. What have you learned in these last 8 months that is a long term take away?

  • Holmes – We have learned that we need to provide different ways for students from a wide variety of backgrounds to have the ability to access their education
  • Holmes – Long-term we are going to see and improve how students access the education that we provide
  • Holmes – One of the positives of this is that we are getting over the ways that we have done things for so many years
  • Meisotis – We may actually come out of this with an opportunity to provide quality education with a lower price point

Q. Should we move to some version of free college below a certain income level? Is this really something we will be talking about outside of the campaign season and should we be?

  • Holmes – The value of building talent through higher education is incredibly important
  • Holmes – We need to do all we can to close these equity gaps
  • Meisotis – Free college on its own doesn’t necessarily increases the completion rates
  • Meisotis – Free is a means not an end and in a political context it can seem as an end

Q. What is the conversation that you and your institution intend to have with legislation in terms of funding?

  • Holmes – One of the challenges is that the value of higher education is a long-term goal
  • how do we make sure that we can finance in a way that it does not lead to an exploding debt crisis?
  • Meisotis – How do we invest in a way that it will be beneficial for our economy in the long run?
  • Meisotis – We need to deal with the equity gaps that we are currently seeing