Summer 2016 Newsletter from Trustee Robert Glaser
Jul 29, 2016
Dear Neighbors,
Many exciting things are happening at HCC and I am proud to share a few highlights with you. A focus on helping students complete their awards and degrees, combined with conservative spending practices, has allowed HCC to reduce the amount spent per student completer by 36% from 2009 to 2016. Additional fiscal highlights include:
- HCC has lowered its property tax rate in each of the last two years, resulting in savings for homeowners and other property owners in the district.
- HCC has enacted no general tuition or fee increase since 2011.
- The HCC property tax rate is lower than the tax rate for 46 of the 50 community colleges in Texas.
- HCC has steadily grown its unrestricted fund balance, available for emergencies, since 2011.
- A compensation study to ensure market level pay for employees was finalized in 2015 and a three-year plan of raises began in 2016.
- In addition to its regularly scheduled payments, HCC aggressively paid off $12 million of debt over the past 12 months.
Since the first grand opening of the Engineering Center of Excellence at the Alief-Hayes Campus earlier this year, we have invited business, industry, and community leaders to seven additional events, showcasing the educational offerings, state-of-the-art equipment and opportunities available at HCC:
- Consumer Arts & Sciences
- Health Sciences
- Logistics
- Digital & Information Technology
- Business
- Media Arts & Technology
- Construction
The next grand opening is the Material Science Center of Excellence on August 31 at the Eastside Campus.
The West Loop Campus in District V has attracted attention and industry professionals since HCC began offering skills training and associate degrees in Digital Gaming for artists and Digital Gaming for programmers. Our Digital & Information Technology Center of Excellence provides the most updated hardware and software available so that students will be able to learn on the equipment they will be using in the workforce.
Our transformation from six diverse colleges to 13 instructional Centers of Excellence earned recognition by the League for Innovation in the Community College when they selected HCC as a winner of its 2016 Innovation of the Year award. This award recognizes innovative programs, policies and partnerships that improve the ability of institutions to serve students and the community, which has always been our greatest goal.
The HCC VAST Academy, which offers programs to students with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDDs), presented occupational skills certificates to 40 students this year, the highest number in the history of the 25-year old program. This is a great accomplishment for the young men and women who worked hard to earn credentials that will help them gain employment and independence.
Fall registration is open and classes begin on August 22. The students who make the decision to enroll are not only changing their lives but are preparing to transform our city through the skills they learn at HCC.
I am honored to represent District V and proud to report on the good work that is being done with your support.
We are Houston’s Community College.
In service,
Robert Glaser
HCC Board of Trustees
Vice Chair, District V
Download: Summer 2016 Trustee Newsletter - Robert Glaser