Evaluation Summary

By all measures, the first-ever Community College Financial Aid Policy Summit was a great success. Participants rated the event a 4.8 on a scale of 1 to 5. Both the organization of topics and the line-up of roundtable speakers drew lauds from participants. Attendees were pleased that the Summit offered them an opportunity to discuss the major challenges that community colleges face in financial aid. They also felt that the Summit helped to identify policy priorities and build a legislative agenda for submission to the 80th Texas Legislature.

The Summit brought together more than 40 community college financial aid directors and representatives from many of the guiding organizations working on behalf of community colleges in Texas, including the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). Also present was Kate Moore, Committee Director for Senator Royce West (D-Dallas), who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education.

A series of roundtable discussions helped participants focus on areas of particular concern to community colleges. From these discussions, attendees produced a set of recommendations — or points to advocate — with the Texas Legislature. These recommendations will be submitted to the education subcommittees of the Legislature for their consideration.

Recommendations
After lengthy discussions, participants at the Summit proposed the following statutory changes regarding the TEXAS Grant and the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant (TEOG). These recommendations will be elaborated upon in a separate document, which is forthcoming.

• For the TEXAS Grant —
  Authorize TEOG recipients to be eligible to receive renewal TEXAS grants upon transfer to a four-year institution from a two-year institution.
• For the TEOG —
  
  1. Include the TEOG program in the current provision for "Authority to Transfer Funds" between the TEXAS Grant and TEOG in a given fiscal year. Currently the TEXAS Grant, Work-study, and TEG are included in this provision.
  2. Authorize community colleges to transfer up to 25 percent of the funds between TEXAS grants and TEOG. Current law allows the lesser of 10 percent or $10,000 to be transferred.
  3. Include a corresponding amendment (see above recommendation for TEXAS grant) to allow community college students who receive a TEOG to be eligible to receive a renewal TEXAS Grant upon transfer to a four-year institution.

Summit attendees also agreed that a few other changes could be made that would help the efforts of the two-year community. Among other things, they stressed the need for raising awareness among legislative staff members about the unique needs of two-year colleges with regard to financial aid. They suggested modifying the comprehensive presentation that the Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (TASFAA) recently provided to legislative aids as well as the participation and success subcommittee of the THECB Board of Directors. The current presentation does not effectively convey how community colleges differ from four-year institutions in the administration of financial aid.

Summary comments
The Summit received favorable comments for its format and for the speakers, all of whom provided useful guidance and information. Participants noted the practical contributions of both Steven Johnson, Director of External Relations for the TACC, and George Torres, Assistant Vice President for Congressional and Legislative Relations from TG, and appreciated the opportunity that the Summit presented for talking directly with legislative representative Kate Moore.

Attendees felt roundtable discussions were fruitful and made note of the meeting materials, which they found helpful to setting a viable agenda for the upcoming 80th Texas Legislature.

Here is a selection of evaluation comments, which provides a sense of the positive effect that participants took away from the Summit.

• The entire program was beneficial as a way to start discussions and build consensus on the financial aid issues concerning community colleges.
• This is an excellent starting point for future dialogue with the Texas Legislature.
• It was excellent to have the THECB, legislative staff, TACC, and schools talking to each other.
• Thank you for coordinating this meeting. It has been very informative. It is exciting to be part of this!
• Please do this on a regular basis.
• The open discussion format was very good.
• Thanks very much to TG for giving us the opportunity to speak with government representatives who have the ability to help students attending community colleges. The event gave the two-year community a time to articulate the financial aid challenges we face.

Administrative action
In May 2006, the THECB, at the request of the participants of the Community College Financial Aid Policy Summit, executed administrative action. The Board revised its policies to allow institutions to apply an "exceptional need" formula to award students who do not qualify for the TEXAS grant due to the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) cap of $4,000. Exceptional need is defined as any amount greater than half of the cost of attendance after gift aid and EFC is considered. This change does not affect the allocation each school receives. It is only intended to provide more flexibility to schools.

To find out more
To learn more about particular recommendations or evaluation comments, contact Kim Alexander at (800) 252-9743, ext. 4945, or send an e-mail to kim.alexander@tgslc.org. Note that recommendations produced in the Summit will be submitted to the education subcommittees of the Legislature on behalf of the two-year community. For details about when these recommendations will be submitted or how they were received, contact Jacob Fraire.

  

Want to know more about the Center for Financial Aid Policy in Community Colleges? Contact Kim Alexander at (800) 252-9743, ext. 4945, or send an e-mail at kim.alexander@tgslc.org.