Innovation with Heart: How Texas Community Colleges Are Changing the Student Experience
Community colleges are where many Texans begin their journey to a living-wage career. And Texas community colleges are rising to the challenge to build innovative support structures and programs that help students achieve their wide-ranging educational and career goals. In fact, some of the best, most collaborative, and scalable student support initiatives are coming from …
Opportunity Youth: Coming into Focus
In this 2025 update report, we checked back with some of the 80+ participants who attended the 2021 Opportunity Youth (OY) Convening to provide an update on the initiatives that serve opportunity youth. In the intervening years, educators, nonprofits, and funders worked in concert to better serve opportunity youth, even in the face of significant …
The Power of Human Connection
This 2024 report details a multiyear, multisource analysis of qualitative data drawn from 225 first-year early college high school graduates who were part of the GTF Scholars Program operating at eight Texas public universities. In their own words, the students described the value of the supports they received from the Program and from their institution …
A Regional Approach to Early College and Degree Pathways
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s robust regional approach to creating postsecondary access gets a closer look in this white paper. Findings revealed the importance of student-centered approaches, innovation with intentionality, and data-sharing as keys to building regional baccalaureate pathways. And for historically underrepresented students, early college high schools and the GTF Scholars program …
Issue Brief: What Does Asset-Based Framing Look Like in Practice?
This brief offers a primer on asset-based approaches that enhance student outcomes. It poses four questions your organization can ask itself to facilitate asset-based approaches in your work and includes two profiles of partner organizations who are effectively utilizing asset-based approaches to support student success. Read more
How to Support Opportunity Youth in Texas
We brought together 80+ people to answer the question, “What would it take to reconnect opportunity youth to education and work equitably and at scale?” This report documents what we learned. Read the Executive Summary and Read the Report
Issue Brief: Four Guiding Principles for Effective College and Career Advising
Grantees and partners across the state of Texas contributed to this Issue Brief filled with best practices and practical approaches to advising for schools where resources are constrained. Read the brief
Black Students’ Networks with Peers and Staff at Texas Higher Education Institutions
Dr. Joshua Childs is an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Austin. With support from GTF, he investigated Black student networks at universities to understand how they facilitate completion, workforce readiness, and a positive college experience. Learn more.
Issue Brief: Financial Access to Postsecondary Education in Texas
Greater Texas Foundation invests in student-centered solutions that allow more Texans to achieve their postsecondary goals. As part of our grantmaking strategy, we support interventions that make college more affordable so cost does not create a barrier to completion of a credential. The following brief presents the most recently available data on the financial needs …
Issue Brief: Student Parents: Challenges and Solutions
About 25% of students enrolled in postsecondary institutions have children. Despite their growing strength in number, however, student parents continue to face unique obstacles that prevent them from attaining credentials at rates comparable to their peers. Student parents’ educational outcomes are not only important for the students themselves, but also have a significant impact on their children and communities. This brief describes …