TCU
From left, Daniel Pullin, Emily Messer, James Hurley, Mattie Parker, Reagan Stephens, Glenn Hegar, Jennifer Cowley, Elva LeBlanc, and Kirk Calhoun.
Fort Worth’s higher education leaders gathered at Bass Hall on Monday to discuss their institutions’ roles in shaping the city’s next chapter — one in which education and research may determine whether North Texas truly becomes the next great American metro and a powerhouse of commerce and culture.
The conversation revealed a shared understanding that Fort Worth’s part in that rise depends as much on what happens in classrooms and labs as in boardrooms.
Who Took Part
The chancellors and presidents who were part of the discussion:
Kirk Calhoun, UNT Health Fort Worth president
Jennifer Cowley, UT Arlington president
James Hurley, Tarleton State University president
Glenn Hegar, Texas A&M University System chancellor
Elva LeBlanc, Tarrant County College chancellor
Emily Messer, Texas Wesleyan University president
Daniel Pullin, TCU chancellor
TCU and Chancellor Daniel Pullin, who will be formally inaugurated this week as the 11th chancellor of the university, hosted the panel of seven education leaders titled “Fueling Innovation & Economic Vitality.”
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker joined the roundtable, moderated by Reagan Stephens, TCU Student Government Association president.
What emerged wasn’t just a conversation about economic vitality, jobs, and quality of life but about the renewal of the ideals of curiosity and connection required to make this place a true innovation ecosystem.
In the parlance of the day, there was a lot to unpack here.
They hit on all the standard themes, such as collaboration among the institutions, as well local government institutions, as the primary catalyst for driving innovation and economic growth. They moved on to universities as the “talent engines” responsible for producing the skilled workforce and workforce readiness, and retention.
And, of course, there is the matter of access and affordability, and the enormous debt load some students take on for a four-year college degree that they hope to pay off before slipping into permanent rest and, God willing, the warm embrace of the Lord.
“Maybe the world needs a little bit more of a return to idealism as to what might be possible,” Daniel Pullin, who will also become the first TCU chancellor to wear tennis shoes — I think those are generally purple Converse he sports — daily with his coat and tie.
That kind of talk will make your ears perk up. (So, too, did Kirk Calhoun’s assertion that he didn’t believe a student needed eight years to become a practicing physician. Talk about saving money.)
Expanding access and affordability is a prerequisite for long-term economic growth and social mobility, they all agreed.
TCU’s and Texas Wesleyan’s steps in making their programs more affordable and, by extension, accessible are notable examples.
The cost of attendance for the Fall and Spring semesters at TCU, a private institution, for students living on campus is more than $82,000, according to the school’s website. TCU has faced backlash over that price tag. However, they're hardly alone. The cost of higher education is through the roof.
Yet, through philanthropic efforts, TCU now covers full tuition for incoming first-year Texas students whose families earn $70,000 or less and meet criteria, including Pell Grant eligibility. Wesleyan President Emily Messer, meanwhile, was quick to point out that her school offers scholarships to Pell Grant–eligible Texas residents to cover any remaining tuition costs.
At UTA, Jennifer Cowley noted the university serves more Pell-eligible students than the entire Ivy League combined. “If you want to talk about creating social mobility and impact in our county, that's the way we're going to do it,” she said.
To put it in social media terms: Idealism > Cynicism, which has pervaded in abundance just about every social structure — from the family, schools, churches, and local governments — all of them essential to healthy communities that innovate. That’s a long story. Idealism is what animates learning and discovery.
Idealism, though, has always had a difficult time competing with the bottom line.
The money has become a breeding ground for distrust in the institutions — cynicism. Economists say the skyrocketing cost of college education likely stems less from market forces and more from the easy access to student loans.
How many great minds — that is, innovators — are lost because of the price tag? It's an age-old question that will still linger in 2100 when Dallas-Fort Worth is projected to be the biggest U.S. metro.
“Tarrant County College [was founded] based on the belief that to have a true democracy you must have an educated population that can make informed decisions,” said Tarrant County College Chancellor Elva LeBlanc.
In reality, you need even more than that. In order to be in full communion with democracy, you need a career and a stake in the game.
Tarrant County College is an integral part of all of this.
Two years ago, a headline on our website read: “Community Colleges Are Reeling. ‘The Day of Reckoning Is Here.’” It was a story by The Associated Press, part of a series on “saving the college dream.”
Within days, perhaps hours, an email was delivered to my inbox. It read — and I’m paraphrasing for dramatic effect — “Hey, Cowboy, we want a word with you.” It was TCC, with a standing invitation to see what was happening on their campuses. The Alliance campus was where they directed me.
Misconceptions and myths remain prevalent that community colleges are less valuable than four-year schools. It’s part of the enduring “arrogance,” as Tarleton State President James Hurley called it, of the college caste system. The joke, however, is on, well, the cynics.
“Finally in this country, the conversation is no longer about what fancy degree you got, but it's what job you have,” said Mattie Parker, the mayor. “Can you raise a family? Do you see upward mobility? Do you see career success in front of you? And I think as a community, we are leading in that.”
TCC is a leading job creator through its trade programs. I went on a tour of its avionics program. LeBlanc joined the tour, no doubt to impress upon me the importance of TCC's critical mission. Just last week on our website, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the occupation of aircraft and avionics equipment mechanics and technicians will see more than 13,000 openings per year, many of those in Texas, on average through 2034, largely driven by replacement needs.
“Of the 200-plus programs that we have, several are technical programs, and the students not only learn the skills for that program, but they learn to be entrepreneurial because many of them end up being a business owner,” LeBlanc said. “My presidents [of the six campuses districtwide] shared with me multiple stories of our students starting with an idea at Tarrant County College and now owning their own businesses.”
LeBlanc said tuition starts at $74 an hour, “among the lowest in the state.” TCC — unlike state or private universities — has a taxing entity to off-set the costs.
TCC is a great answer to the question of upward social mobility and economic development. Glenn Hegar, the A&M System president, noted that he began his academic journey at a community college. Thousands of Tarrant County College students go on to four-year colleges, many of them to UTA.
And if they do it right, they won’t have to worry about anybody else paying for it because they’ll have a good job to cover the tab.