Tarrant County College Chancellor Elva LeBlanc and University of Texas at Arlington President Jennifer Cowley explained the impact of their schools in numbers.
LeBlanc highlighted how TCC generates $2.3 billion in regional added income annually. She also touted that 85% of its graduates stay in the county.
More than 1 in 10 UTA graduates stay in Arlington, Cowley said, and almost three-quarters remain in Texas. A third own a home within five years.
But numerical evidence is just one way the two demonstrated TCC’s and UTA’s pathways to the workforce at the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce’s 4th Annual State of Higher Education event Thursday.
They spoke anecdotally of industry collaborations, emphasized community impact and said higher education institutions drive the local economy.
Cowley told the story of Carol Klocek, a UTA social work graduate who now leads the Center for Transforming Lives, a nonprofit serving single mothers and their children. She also said colleges provide talent to local industry and that industry encourages graduates to remain in the area, pointing to UTA graduates and interns who work at the satellite company E-Space.
“Our alumni are the backbone of our community, leading organizations, serving their neighbors and giving their time and talent to causes that matter,” Cowley told attendees.
Cowley acknowledged UTA is also facing challenges. She told attendees that the statewide tuition freeze and drop in international students who often paid higher costs have contributed to revenue decline.
Like TCC, UTA is looking at how its courses align with workforce needs through a review and could cut some programs. But it is offering new programs as well. The public university added a bachelor’s degree in consultative sales this spring and plans to launch a practice-based doctoral program in social work in the fall.
Such growth is expected to continue, Cowley told the Fort Worth Report.
“Every year we’re able to talk about the growth of our academic programs, and we’re always coming up with new ideas of degree programs that really meet the market and are contributing to economic development,” she said. “We have some things that we’re planning and in the pipeline that we can’t announce yet until they go to the state (for approval), but we anticipate we’ll have some new, exciting developments there.”
LeBlanc underlined some of TCC’s programs collaborating with and connecting students to industry, including those in film, automotive repair and healthcare.
Employment outcomes have become a point of particular focus in Texas in recent years as the Legislature has changed how community colleges are funded.
Before House Bill 8 took effect in 2023, community colleges were funded based on the number of students enrolled. Now they receive money through a formula rewarding colleges for how many credentials they award, how many students transfer to four-year universities and how many high schoolers earn dual credit. Awarding degrees and certificates for in-demand fields earns colleges additional funding.
As TCC faces budget strain from the statewide tuition freeze and decreasing property tax revenue, the college recently cut programs not producing many graduates or that are not in demand by the workforce.
The college is also creating programs that will meet local workforce needs. LeBlanc previewed degree programs that will launch in future semesters, including an air traffic control associate degree and a bachelor’s degree — the college’s first — in early childhood education.
“We prepare the workforce North Texas needs, often before North Texas asks,” LeBlanc said in her remarks.
McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org.
The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
The Report’s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth, Texas Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Science Center. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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