Staff, Faculty, Student Campus Life Committee
UT Regents
Juliet V. García
Gran Salón
Speaking Notes
Greetings:
Regent Craven and members of
the committee, I’m going to give you an abbreviated version of our campus life.
Students Walking the Paseo and the Stage at Commencement
Building
the campus to feel like home.
This spring, we have our
highest enrollment of students, 11,000, which is 10% increase from last spring,
and nearly 4% over the fall.
UTB/TSC Students Slide of students
registering for class
Last fall we had enrollment
of 10,600 students. When we look at specifics about their enrollment patterns
and financial situations, we get a bit of their lives and their challenges.
60% of them female
53% of them
receiving financial aid
Full-time students: 4,718 students
45% are full time students
70% were awarded a Pell
grant. 41% borrowed a federal student loan. The
average student loan for a fulltime student receiving an award was $1,911,
which is almost two hundred dollars more than the average Pell grant of $1,763.
The average earning for full time students who applied for financial aid
is $8,202.
They’re like Jeanette Rosas
who took five and half years to graduate with a bachelor’s in business
administration. That’s how long it takes when you take an average of 13.2
hours. What we realize about our students is that with encouragement, they
won’t stop out or give up. Jeanette worked and used Pell grants to pay for her
school and only borrowed when she didn’t have a choice.
Part-time: 5,035 students
Approximately 47%
of our students are part-time.
The part-time undergraduate
student, who at 27, is a little older than most beginning students.
On average part-time students who apply for financial aid earn about $12,000 a
year. They’re most likely looking to begin a career or make a career change.
For some the Pell grant will cover their expenses for classes; for 25% of them,
they must borrow money.
Graduate Students: 851
8% of our students are at the
graduate student level, 36-years-old, and in the second year of the master’s
degree.
40% of our graduate students
are majoring in education. And 15% of receive a federal student loan of about
$3,000. The average earning for graduate
student, who applied for financial aid is $26,902.
Financial Need
The financial
need of our students, at every level, is a concern for this university. It’s
not a picture of who they are, but it is a picture of the challenges that they
face.
Our Undergrad
and Graduate Applicants who have completed the Financial Aid process:
Average
Financial Need = $10, 267
Average
Financial Aid Package = $5,534
Average Unmet
Need = $4,733
Life in Class Room
FT Faculty to
Student ratio:
1/31
Full time
faculty:
Male 58% and Female
42%
Living in Campus
Housing
Student Housing on our campus is one of our newest and
most dynamic ventures to date.
Initially, our facilities opened to about 65% occupancy rate, but that
quickly changed as more and more people found out about how great our
department, facilities, and overall environment were for students. In less than 8 months were at 90% capacity
and still growing.
Student Housing Highlights:
Fall 2003, the dorm resident
life revealed.
·
Increased
occupancy rates by 40% to reach almost full capacity at 90% (200 students)
·
Awarded $20,000
in scholarships for merits students with high GPA’s in the first year of
operation (this does not include athletes)
·
Increased double
beds by twelve to meet the demand for double students
·
Added laundry
facilities.
·
We had students
from 15 different countries with unique backgrounds.
·
We had several
military veterans, including a former US Navy SEAL.
·
We had 60 student
athletes, 2 live-in magicians, 15 music major students, one band leader, and
these are just some of the many and wonderful students that make up our
population
·
The average age
of our students at housing was a traditional one of 20, but we had several none
traditional students that add a unique perspective to campus life.
·
We are planning
to open the “Ramada” side of the former hotel complex, at an estimated cost of
$400,000.
We see a natural relationship
between on campus living and growth in student organizations.
COLLEGIATE SPORTS
·
In
ladies golf, top 13 in the nation.
·
Women’s
volleyball had a winning season.
·
Baseball
season begins this month.
These sports
generate activities for campus life and bring young fans to campus.
Leisure Time Quotation
“To be able to
fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization” Bertrand
Russell”
Our student organizations have seen a dramatic increase in the amount
of students that are interested in student clubs. Over the last two years, we have had an
increase from 60 student organizations to now 100 organizations. That’s a 40% increase in student
organizations.
Let me highlight a few
of the organization’s beginning with student government.
·
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society students often help with ushering during
commencement. Last academic year, they participated in the national effort
called Project Graduation to help public libraries obtain more books. Our
students gathered more than 2,000 books from their fellow graduates and campus
community to donate to the upcoming Southmost Public Library.
·
The Chess program at UTB/TSC began in 2002 under the leadership of
In year two, Vince still led the group of chess
students and placed second at the state tournament.
In April 2003, International Grand Master Roman Dzindzichasvili came to UTB/TSC as the Chess Coach for this
aspiring new venture. During this time, the chess team has grown to about 12
students, including two female students.
In building a bridge with the Valley aspiring young chess players, Roman
is coaching the
The UTB/TSC team will compete at their state
tournament in March.
Our student involvement in Recreational Sports Programming has seen a
tremendous explosion in the number of students that are participating in our
newly initiated Rec. Sports Program.
·
Our
Flag football, Soccer, and Basketball leagues have increased every time with
each event.
·
Over
the past two years participation has nearly doubled.
·
Our sports clubs have gone
from two to six in less than a year.
Rec. Sports highlights: Just some of many
Basketball and Soccer are no different.
The increase we have had in these areas is mind boggling. We had to cut our soccer league mid way
through the season because the one “field” we use for our sporting events could
not sustain the level of use it was getting.
·
Some of the things that our program will need in the future will be
funding, facilities, and a large number of administrative personnel to run a
large scale Rec. Sports Program and fitness facility.
Service Learning
Being active on campus and
having a voice in what’s going on throughout your community is not something
that our students or faculty waited for us to organize. But, we have begun to
build a culture of engagement that extends from the classroom.
Service learning in the curriculum is something that we have worked to develop as part
of the culture of the university.
Voting Drive Slide
The Center for
In conjunction with SGA, the Center for
The campus is an early voting site for
general and special elections.
In cooperation with the BISD, private, and
home schools, we have begun Kids Voting USA, a national program.
Connecting Classroom with Community
Excerpt from mission statement
UTB/TSC
seeks to be a community university which respects the dignity of each learner
and addresses the needs of the entire community.
VOTING AN ENGAGEMENT PRIORITY SLIDE
Two UTB/TSC
classes taught by Dr. Paula Parson were held at the
·
The last hour of
class, university students had an opportunity to apply what they learn in the
classroom with children who live in that community.
·
On Mondays
university interns assess and plan reading intervention activities for the
children.
·
On Wednesdays
university students work with children who are transported from the
Reading Improvement Program at
·
Dr. Michelle Abrego,
Dr. Renée Rubin, and Dr. John Sutterby
worked at Longoria Elementary providing literacy assessment, tutoring, and
family literacy nights.
·
This is the third
year of the Evening Reading Improvement Program held with UTB students from the
·
Graduate students
in
In November, the
Associate Degree Nursing Students arranged a health fair for the residents of
Buena Vida residents. More than 500 people came out to take part in the fair.
These are just a
few of the recent examples of campus life at UTB/TSC.
What don’t we have?
At our budget hearing, I told
legislators in order to save money, we would cut out the lights at our baseball
stadium, but we don’t have any.
·
Sports at the
upper level
·
A recreational
center
·
A wellness center
·
Natatorium
·
Performance
Hall
Our Vice
This will be the second time
that we’ve asked students to vote on a facility. The referendum for the Student
Union Building was rejected the first time. Then, the students who organized
against it decided that they had made a mistake. So they led the way for the
next drive which resulted in this facility that has become not only their home
away from home, but also a building admired by the community groups and
families who use it.
Conclusion
FOCUS ON P-16 Slide
We expect our
enrollment to increase and for students to come to college better prepared.
We have more than
30 outreach programs.
GEAR UP is in its
fifth funding year.
We serve 16,000 students with GEAR-UP.
We have two GO
Centers in the area.
We have programs
focusing on science and math.
Transition to
JASON Story Video
·
Video tells
story about JASON project and how Andrew Johnson is our third student selected
to be an Argonaut.