Texas University Fund

students walking in the quad at Texas State University

“The Texas University Fund is a game changer – not just for Texas State University, but for the state. TUF is a great investment on behalf of the taxpayers of Texas because it will support research that generates new innovations and jobs. The future of our state as a world thought, research, and economic leader is directly tied to this bold endeavor. Texas is the eighth-largest economy in the world and deserves to have more than two top-100 research universities. The TUF will make that happen.” 

- Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse

What is the Texas University Fund?

  • The Texas University Fund (TUF) is a constitutional amendment that creates a $3.9 billion permanent endowment to ensure sustainable funding for four universities that do not receive benefits from the Permanent University Fund and are well positioned to be elevated into Top 50 status among public universities nationwide. The universities included in the TUF are Texas State University, Texas Tech University,  University of North Texas, and the University of Houston.
  • The fund will expand investments in research and top-tier professors to educate a broader range of students that our state’s economy needs, as now only two Texas universities rank in the Top 50 nationwide.
  • The funding is part of a broader effort to help Texas State and the other three universities achieve national prominence as major research universities, drive the Texas economy, and bolster higher ed research beyond the state’s two largest university systems. 

How it is funded

  • The endowment consists of a one-time allocation from the state’s budget surplus, to be combined with funds from the National Research University Fund and supplemented with interest income from the Economic Stabilization Fund. It involves no new taxes.

Who it serves

  • These four universities currently serve over 160,000 working, and middle class students from across the state. Each university is also a designated Hispanic-Serving Institution.

Why it’s needed for Texas

  • Increasing investments in research and talent retention is key to attracting more venture capital, bolstering innovation, and becoming the world leader in trending areas from energy to tech.
  • Texas represents the nation’s second largest economy but ranks 23rd in terms of number of students attending a Top 50 public university given the overall size of its student population.
  • 20,000 more students leave Texas for college than the number of students who move to Texas to study.
  • Highly educated and skilled people have moved to Texas to fill critical workforce needs in the past. But as the number of Texas jobs requiring college education continues to grow, it is critical that we increase the number of native Texans earning bachelor’s degrees to fill the demand.

“Specifically, TUF will have a transformative impact on Texas State by supporting research that improves public health and safety, the environment, and our quality of life. This investment will change the trajectory of our university, providing access to the resources we need in order to compete for the top competitive research funding opportunities we are currently losing to other schools that have a reliable funding source like the TUF.”  

- Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse 

Benefits for Texas State University

  • Texas State is already a high-performing research university, but we can do so much more with the Texas University Fund. 
  • The increased investment in Texas State’s research enterprise enhances our ability to prepare our graduates for high-earning, high-impact careers in Texas and beyond. 
  • The TUF funds will be invested directly in Texas State enabling us to build, hire, and increase job opportunities for our graduates and students, and create more educational advantages for all Texans.
  • As our research profile grows, so does the national and international reputation of Texas State. TUF will help us become a university of choice for world-class faculty and talented students while increasing the value of a Texas State degree. 
     

What would Texas State do with the funding?

Last year, the university launched our Hopes and Aspirations High, an ambitious vision for Texas State University’s future which includes five bold strategic imperatives – elevate student success, Run to R1 status, increase enrollment, grow the Round Rock Campus, and become an employer of choice. Texas University Fund is a historic investment that will propel Texas State toward all these goals and further.

If passed, the TUF will yield $22.3 million per year for Texas State. We are making strategic investments to move the university boldly forward should the TUF pass.

  • In anticipation of a favorable TUF outcome, Texas State has already earmarked major investments in our research enterprise. Earlier this year, we announced a $40 million investment to supercharge our goal of obtaining R1 status by 2027. The investment was used to recruit 50 additional Ph.D. students to our current doctoral programs, add 50 new post-doctoral researchers, grant faculty course releases to support a greater focus on research, increase graduate student tuition scholarships, and several more investments in student success and research growth. 

Breakout of our investment

  • $12 million to recruit 100 Ph.D. students to our current doctoral programs (Summer ’23 and Fall ’23 combined)
  • $5.4 million to add 100 new post-doctoral researchers 
  • $3 million for faculty course releases to support a greater focus on research 
  • $4 million on increased graduate student tuition scholarships 
  • And several more investments in student success and research growth

The possibility of TUF has opened the door to growing the number of doctoral programs at Texas State in an unprecedented fashion. Over our first 124 years, we created 12 doctoral programs. This fall, we are submitting 11 new doctoral programs to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for approval. If TUF passes, the $24 million startup costs for those new degree programs would be covered. 

The balance of the TUF for the foreseeable future would be invested in bringing Texas State faculty compensation in line with research university norms, adding faculty positions to help free up time for research, and improving our research facilities and equipment to allow for us to continue to grow research, creative endeavors, industry collaboration, and technology application to benefit Texas and the world. 

Examples include: 

  • Recruit nationally/internationally renowned faculty and research groups of excellence to Texas State to lead research in solving problems in areas of importance such as artificial intelligence, energy, infrastructure, semiconductors, and healthcare.
  • Establish core research support infrastructure related to semiconductor fabrication, DNA sequencing, and high-performance computing.

What's Next?

Per the legislation, the Texas University Fund will be included as Proposition 5 in a statewide referendum on November 7, 2023. Early voting begins October 23.