Bill proposes to transfer UHV-Victoria to Texas A&M system

The Satellite
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Did we get reimbursed with interest?

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83

After we stole their nursing program, I guess we didn’t need them anymore.

84

Reading the spin on this makes me laugh.

I’m pretty familiar with how A&M system schools get treated, and the Victoria people are going to be disappointed.

I don’t believe that UH really set this in motion, though it’s pretty clear that we didn’t put up the same fight as in the past. The A&M push has always come from a group of Victoria locals who have the ear of some representatives.

Growth prospects in Victoria really don’t have much of a catalyst. There’s been a lot of expansion and hiring at Formosa down in Point Comfort, but that’s not going to kick-start Victoria to a large degree. But there is an opportunity to grow the school there with the right focus and approach, and UH didn’t seem to terribly interested in that.

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It appears that UH shifted its focus to Sugar Land. Lot of land to fill out there, and the local population base is growing fast.

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A&M won’t want a satellite campus to be very successful. The flagship wants to be prominent over satellite campuses. If a school wants to really grow then they go on their own. The name of a school helps if they are independent. Texas st hit a home run with their name and I would have been good if we picked it but Houston as an independent is good also. I guess we’re like Miami , Pitt, Louisville or auburn in name recognition as schools that bare the city name.

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87

If that’s really what’s behind it, then our admin is displaying some short-sightedness.

I suspect it’s more about the growth potential in Victoria and associated costs. They need more space to expand, and some Aggie shills claim that they’ll donate land to make that happen if the school moves into the A&M system. Without a donation, the expansion would be cost-prohibitive.

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I don’t know enough about UH-Victoria to even have an opinion.

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I mean victoria is a lot closer to corpus? If that is the logic.

Is victoria independent like lake?

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I don’t understand your questions. Victoria is probably the same distance to Sugar Land that it is to Corpus, but it doesn’t make sense for the UH system to voluntarily cede a location to the A&M system unless it’s totally unworkable. Beyond that, A&M has several system campuses that are already closer to Victoria than the main UH campus - Corpus, Kingsville, and San Antonio.

Each of the UH system universities are “stand-alone” but they’re all under the control of the system BOR and Chancellor.

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Supposedly aggies are getting $25million from the state for Victoria.

Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp announced the university has received $25 million in the new state budget to help expand academic programs and services for the region.

“This is a transformational moment for Victoria and for South Texas,” Sharp said. “The people of this region deserve a world-class regional university, and that’s exactly what we’re going to help build.”

https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/texas-am-victoria-university-name-change/285-9e6e798f-e5be-4dab-b239-de05746ebdab

Really adds insult to injury. Not money from the PUF but directly from the state.

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“including new programs in engineering and agribusiness that align with the region’s petrochemical, manufacturing, and agricultural industries”

I bet this more than anything, UH does not fill the needs of the area.

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But that’s the thing - if A&M offers that at other schools, they’re less than 90 minutes away.

I suspect that UH didn’t want to expend the funds to create those programs, and the State was willing to just give A&M $25MM to make it happen. In other words, we got squeezed out.

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This is good self-awareness. Next step on the journey may be to let that realization override the urge to post.

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You were dealing with fanboys and they’ll accept a lesser role just to be in the room with them

UH saves cause they were the only satellite campus with athletics also

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I don’t really like this, but I trust Renu and our BOR. It is very likely they saw any fight to keep UHV as a lose-lose situation. I’m sure a lot of this was argued behind closed doors over many years. I am aware of some of the issues UHV had in regards to the UH Sugarland site and such as well.

As far as wanting UH’s money back for the investment. Well, the truth is we are all state funded schools, its the state’s money there’s nothing to pay back. However, as has been said, UH absorbing the nursing program looks to have been a great move but it may have also been part of the death of UHV as part of the UHS.

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Renu’s Op-ed about the change.