Most UT Oil Money Goes For Construction Debt And Administration, Not Savings For Students

A Texas Tribune investigation found that about 7 percent of oil money allotted to UT-Austin goes toward financial aid, most of it going to graduate students.

By Alexandra HartAugust 22, 2017 3:45 pm,

The fracking boom filled many bank accounts, and cities in close proximity to the biggest drilling operations got a lot of tax revenue. Oil has been a cash cow for public universities in Texas, as well — especially the University of Texas at Austin. But a recent investigation by the Texas Tribune shows that UT-Austin students haven’t really benefitted from the petroleum windfall.

Texas Tribune Higher Education Reporter Matthew Watkins says fracking created a new “oil rush” and new source of income for Texas universities. But average tuition costs are still higher than schools without access to oil money.

What you’ll hear in this segment:

—How the University of Texas System spends the money it gets from Permian Basin oil revenue

—How the majority of financial aid dollars from oil revenue go to graduate students, rather than undergraduates

—How money-saving tactics like moving campus administrative jobs out of UT-Austin and into the UT System haven’t paid off

 

Written by Caroline Covington.