Home College for Texans Campaign Closing the Gaps by 2015 How to Donate Board of Trustees Foundation Staff Newsletter Viewpoints Song and Dance Contact Us Latest Tax Return (pdf)		Welcome to the website for the College for All Texans Foundation: Closing the Gaps! What is the College for All Texans Foundation and what is its purpose? College for All Texans is a central part of the broad effort to carry out the state’s higher education plan, Closing the Gaps by 2015 and, thereby, to close the gaps in college participation and success. Demographic projections show that unless we reverse the trend of declining college participation and success rates that characterized the final two decades of the previous century, Texas will gradually become less educated, less prosperous and less economically competitive, with fewer opportunities and a lower quality of life for its people. If our state were to continue on the same path for several more decades, by 2040 the annual loss in household income would exceed 80 billion. But if we close the educational gaps within Texas and between Texas and the leading states, the gain would be more than 110 million annually, with all the good consequences for greater economic competitiveness, quality of life, and opportunity for all the people of the state. This is the reason for the urgency of the entire Closing the Gaps effort. College for All Texans’ objective is to enroll in Texas colleges and universities an additional 430,000 academically prepared people—beyond the 200,000 enrollment growth that has been projected for 2015. Adding a total of at least 630,000 more students—a 60 percent increase over enrollment in 2000— and raising the annual number of graduates to over 210,000 is essential for Texas to close the gaps in college participation and success by 2015 and to follow a course toward a bright future for all of its people. The slogan is Education: Go Get It. The College for All Texans Foundation’s mission is to generate the resources necessary to ensure the success of College for All Texans. In 2001, the Legislature directed the Coordinating Board to undertake the awareness and outreach campaign part of College for All Texans and appropriated 5 million for the 2002-03 biennium to initiate it. For the 2004-05 biennium, despite the severe limitations on the State’s budget, the Legislature provided 3 million. Federal funds for first generation college students added over 600,000 and the Foundation contributed almost 1 million more, establishing a base for the ongoing public- private partnership that is essential for the Campaign to be successful. In the 2006-07 biennium, the Legislature increased its contribution to over 13.5 million support by the Foundation reached 1.7 million. For the 2008-2009 biennium, the Legislative appropriation is more than 26 million in addition, the Foundation will spend about 3 million. The Foundation’s aim is to raise sufficient contributions to provide $2 million annually to the College for Texans Campaign for the next decade, with the expectation that the Legislature will maintain the public-private partnership by appropriating a like amount. In effect, the Foundation’s job is to raise the missing money to carry out the campaign to enroll and graduate the 430,000 people who otherwise would be missing from Texas colleges and universities in 2015.