Timothy Chapman
02/27/2023
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has just recently been ranked as the seventh best public university in the United States by a ranking system that highlights the economic impact of institutions.
The top four categories that were used to rank universities has UTRGV 7 in Best Public National Universities, 2 in Lowest Net Cost of Attendance Among Public National Universities, 2 in Most Affordable Public National Universities and 4 in Best National Universities with Lowest Student Debt. With UTRGV being 1 in all of these categories in the state of Texas.
UTRGV President Guy Bailey said his team started UTRGV with a singular focus, which was student success and student opportunity after realizing that other universities had been using a financial model that was not good for students’ success.
“What we’ve done is create a new financial model that really focuses on the ability of students to be able to pay for college and get through college without mortgaging their future and so that singular focus has helped us create what we think is great value in higher education,” Bailey said.
According to Bailey, value is defined as the combination of excellence or quality plus price. Not only does UTRGV offer tuition at an affordable price, but it also comes with a great value of education.
“It really comes down to your faculty, I mean you need students who have the means to go to school without getting into great debt, But then you need to have faculty who are committed to teaching them, and I think we have a faculty that are really committed to our student body, Bailey said.
Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza Jr said it’s exciting to see that people around the country are seeing the value of UTRGV which helps the city grow with the University
“We have a division one school and for us it’s one of our largest assets that we have in our city, being home to UT Rio Grande Valley obviously It’s a great thing because from an educational standpoint, higher education is so key to the growth of any community,” Garza said.
He said he is very proud to have UTRGV in the city of Edinburg as he has seen the growth of the University over the years since it was smaller and recognises the amount of effort it has taken to bring UTRGV where it is today.
“I think for us being Mayor of the city, It makes me very proud because it’s efforts from a lot of people over the years that ensured that we had these opportunities right here, in our city,” Garza said.
Associate Vice President for University Marketing and Communications Patrick Gonzales said UTRGV’s secret to success in offering a low cost of tuition but also providing a great education was being able to start from scratch back in 2015 and build tuition around the financial aid that students get.
“Dr. Bailey came in and was able to start a university from scratch and really was smart on how he set the tuition to a point where it wasn’t going to affect the quality of education our student received. It just doesn’t make sense to people outside UTRGV how we can be doing both but we are,” Gonzales said.
To learn more about The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley you can visit their website at utrgv.edu
