A proposal to compress the bachelor's degree into three years is now part of the Texas governor's race, and in College Station it is not an abstraction. It is a question about the largest employer in the city.
Texas A&M employs about 8,891 people here, according to the city's annual comprehensive financial report. Whatever the state decides a degree should look like, this is one of the places where the deciding gets implemented.
Where the two stand
Abbott has directed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to develop pathways allowing students to earn a bachelor's degree in three years rather than four. His office says the aim is to cut the cost of a degree, shorten the time to finish one, and let the state respond faster to what employers need. The directive was issued this month and would require legislative approval.
No budget figure has been attached to it.
Hinojosa, a state representative from Austin, has campaigned mainly on public schools rather than universities. She has said she would dismiss Education Commissioner Mike Morath on her first day and replace him with a career educator.
"The agency that oversees our children's education should be led by someone who has taught them," she said.
She wants to end the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness and tests like it, and has criticised the A-F school accountability system built around those results. Lawmakers have already authorised replacing STAAR with three shorter exams starting in 2027-28, so part of that change is under way regardless of the election.
