The License Plate that Pays for College
Texas is one of 11 states to receive a one-year planning grant of $150,000 through the Lumina Foundation for Education's Making Opportunity Affordable (MOA) initiative.
Texas will be eligible to compete next year for a $2 million Opportunity Grant to implement plans over four years. With MOA planning funds in Fiscal Year 2009, the Coordinating Board will: 1) seek legislative approval for changes in the higher education funding methodology to focus on outcomes/outputs rather than inputs; and 2) with the assistance of advisory committees, develop a statewide articulated transfer curriculum for mechanical engineering (2+2 program) that will facilitate the efficient transfer of credits among community colleges and four-year institutions.
Through the development of a mechanical engineering 2+2 program, Texas will refine the process of more fully and efficiently using the community college pathway to baccalaureate degrees in an effort to promote cost-saving methods of delivering high-quality education to greater numbers of students.
Closing the Gaps by 2015 was adopted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board with strong support from the state's educational, political, and business communities.