North Texas community colleges set to lose millions amid state funding changes

Community colleges in North Texas will likely be shortchanged by millions of dollars in state funding in the upcoming fiscal year, after those colleges overperformed on a student success incentive program that Texas can no longer afford to pay. 

Last week, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved changes to a program that financially rewards community colleges for getting low-income students and adult students to graduation day. Across the state, community colleges have exceeded expectations on those metrics, and the total amount due to the colleges is now millions of dollars more than the amount the board is allowed to distribute before the next legislative session. The incentive program, which was outlined in House Bill 8, went into effect in 2023. 

Schools will now earn smaller bonuses for those student outcomes. Officials with the THECB said the cutback will be “necessary to ensure the financial sustainability” of the community college financing program as a whole.

State estimates show that Dallas College and Tarrant County College may be affected by the funding change. 

In fiscal year 2027, Dallas College is expected to get 2.8% less funding than was promised, amounting to just over $3 million. In the years since HB 8 passed, Dallas College’s funding has increased 15%, the projection shows. 

At Tarrant County College, close to 6.5% of funding could be lost, which amounts to $4.1 million. Neither Dallas nor Tarrant colleges are expected to be the hardest hit across the state; nearly a dozen schools are expected to lose 15% of their funding, and Texarkana College administrators are bracing for a nearly 25% slash. 

Collin County College is one of only a handful of systems that may actually see their funding increase under the change. State projections expect the school to get 7.1%, or $4.2 million, in additional funding next fiscal year. 

While the state legislature could vote to fund the gap in the upcoming session, it is unclear whether there will be support for the measure at a time when leading officials are urging spending cuts. Spokespeople from Dallas College and Tarrant County College did not respond to the Observer’s request for comment. 

Colleges are now grappling with the funding change at the same time as Gov. Greg Abbott has urged public colleges and universities not to raise tuition through the next academic year. Still, some college leaders testified before a state Senate committee that the funding changes will inevitably result in job cuts, and will make it difficult to continue funding the same programs that contributed to the HB 8 student success boom. 

In Tarrant County, Tarrant County College District trustees have questioned how the school is expected to “sit here and let people arbitrarily decide to take money continuously away.” Even as state funding drops, officials are not expecting the college to have a revenue decline, although the change to state funding could affect whether employee raises are given as planned, the Fort Worth Report reports.