Thursday, June 12, 2008

UNT Dallas campus gets more time before separation

By Taylor Short of North Texas Daily

The Board of Regents unanimously decided in May to push back the opening of the UNT Dallas campus as a freestanding university by one year to fall 2010.

"The extension gives us time to work on projects that will allow the Dallas campus to accommodate the growing enrollment numbers," said Gregory Tomlin, UNT Dallas campus spokesman.

Tomlin said the Dallas campus' vice provost, John Price, wants more time to hire employees and develop programs and policies. He said Price also wants more building space for classrooms and offices.

"We have to go through an accreditation review to have independent courses taught only on the Dallas campus," UNT System Chancellor Lee Jackson said. "So a lot of time is spent getting the legal reviews taken care of."

Jackson said the time-consuming arrangements include an application to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and meeting with UNT Denton administrators to determine what programs and systems can be implemented at the Dallas campus.

The almost decade-old Dallas campus will become UNT Dallas, the first four-year public university within Dallas city limits. The branch campus has shown significant growth since its founding in 2000, averaging 16 percent each year, according to a statement by the university. The largest growth period occurred between fall 2006 and fall 2007, with enrollment increasing 22 percent to 1,874 students and full-time equivalent students increasing 32 percent to 814, according to the statement.

Current legislation requires the campus to obtain an enrollment of 1,000 full-time equivalent students to be eligible for freestanding status. A $25 million tuition revenue bond has already been approved by the state, but will only be released after the campus reaches 1,500 full-time equivalent students, a goal Jackson said will be reached this fall or spring 2009.

"It's kind of a 'chicken and egg' scenario," Tomlin said. "We need the money to accommodate the new students, but we can't use it until we have the new students."

While students in Denton will pay more in tuition next year, Dallas campus students will not, allowing for more growth.

All programs offered at the Dallas campus are based at the Denton campus. Tomlin said the Dallas campus, once freestanding, will offer the exact same academic programs as the Denton campus but also offer specific "niche" programs.

"We plan to offer specific interdisciplinary programs also, something like a mixture of history and psychology," Tomlin said. "Mr. Price gave the example of forensic accounting, which would combine accounting, sciences and criminal justice."

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