By Scott Harvey
Commerce – Texas A&M University-Commerce continues to see high enrollment numbers, as outlined by President Dan Jones during this month's Spring Assembly.
The University topped 10,000 students in the fall and figures so far this semester indicate a more than 11 percent increase over this time a year ago.
Construction on the new residence hall at the corner of Hwy 50 and Culver St. is on schedule, with completion by sometime this summer. Administrators are also pursuing funding for another 500 bed dormitory, with a goal of having 3,000 students living on campus within five years.
The budget was also addressed. Dr. Jones indicated the State has asked the University to cut 2.5 percent from the current fiscal year budget, accounting for about $1 million.
"The Division of Academic Affairs begins this spring semester with the same level of funding with which we started the current biennium," Jones said. "Through the remainder of the current fiscal year, no instructional positions or operating budgets will be affected through budget reductions."
Jones went on to say that what happens next year is much less certain, as legislators decide how to balance a budget some experts have put at $27 billion. The A&M System Chancellor has warned of possible reductions for each system institution's next biennial budget in the range of ten percent. That's on top of the 7.5 percent total reductions that have been asked of A&M-Commerce the past two years.
"Our goal must be more, much more in fact, than simply to survive the current downturn in the economy," said Jones. "It must be nothing less than the relentless pursuit of quality in all that we do."
Power point and audio of January's full Spring Assembly is available at http://web.tamu-commerce.edu/aboutUs/administrativeOffices/president/addresses/2011-01-13/default.aspx