THE FINAL PUSH: EARLY VOTING IN TSC RUNOFF BEGINS TODAY, ELECTION DAY JUNE 13

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

A  scant 13 years ago, Texas Southmost College almost ceased to exist. 

The  plans were drawn, the proposals made, and – without local residents becoming aware – a bill was being considered in Austin to  transfer all its real estate,  buildings, bank deposits, and other financial assets  to  the  oil-and-gas wealthy University of Texas System.

That  almost happened when I was first elected to serve on the  college  board in 2008.  A forceful college president working with a pliant board had already forwarded plans to  do away with TSC, and our district would disappear only after local taxpayers finished paying its bond debt. 

After that, the little college that had given so many of our young people, veterans, and  residents the first rung to realize their dreams and uplift their families would be gone.

Our local students were already paying university-level tuition and fees, and only a dismal 16 percent graduated after six years. The rest fell through the cracks, their federal grants depleted with UTB-required "remedial" courses that didn't count toward graduation and they couldn't afford the high tuition and could not  continue their schooling.

We said enough!

We moved to separate our distinctively different missions while our opposition stood by, ready to watch us fail. But a Higher Power smiled upon us and our little college and drove us to work a little harder, and to persevere against the odds. Today, 13 years after we reestablished our independence as a stand-alone institution of higher education we have achieved this:

* We've reduced tuition and fees three (3) times to make TSC the most affordable college in the RGV

* We earned independent national accreditation despite the nay-sayers

* We've grown enrollment by over 130 percent

* We've built a state-of-the art workforce training program

* Today, TSC's graduation rate outpaces the state average  

The best years – our next Century of Progress – is still ahead. With your continued support, we can keep building what we started.