Khator lauds UH growth, gives update on medical school

University of Houston President Renu Khator >>See the old-timey photos of UH to get a feel for how the university has grown... University of Houston President Renu Khator >>See the old-timey photos of UH to get a feel for how the university has grown... Photo: Steve Gonzales Photo: Steve Gonzales Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close Khator lauds UH growth, gives update on medical school 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

In her annual Fall Address, University of Houston President Renu Khator lauded growing enrollments and graduation rates at the institution and provided an update on the school's efforts to establish a college of medicine.

Khator said Texas' Higher Education Coordinating Board is scheduled to take action on UH's application for its medical school later this month, and that about 35 officials are working to finish an application for national accreditation by December.

If all goes according to plan, Khator said the medical school could be fully accredited by 2019 and could welcome its first class of students in the fall of 2020.

"It's possible for us to introduce a program for medicine and help do what this university has always done: Serving the people and the community," Kahtor said Wednesday.

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While an anonymous donor has provided $3 million to pay the inaugural class's tuition, gaining full accreditation for the school will be no easy feat.

Texas Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes has bemoaned the growth of academic programs at colleges statewide, instead pleading that schools focus on improving the programs they already operate.

"We are expanding academic programs faster than the Legislature is even willing or able to support appropriately," he told higher education leaders in 2017, according to the Austin Statesman. "Unless we put a brake on expansion of programs, we are going to dilute the limited resources we have still more, and that's a certain recipe for statewide mediocrity. Frankly, we have an awful lot of mediocre academic programs in Texas."

Still, the Coordinating Board approved a doctorate program in osteopathic medicine at Sam Houston State University in August.

Khator also touted growing enrollments, rising graduation rates and some narrowing achievement gaps at the school.

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She said about 46,300 students are now enrolled at the flagship campus and, for the first time, more freshmen are enrolled than transfer students.

Achievement gaps evidenced by graduation rates have also improved, the president said. The four-year graduation rates for African-American students is now two percentage points shy of the graduation rates for white students, shrinking from a 10 percent gap found in the class of 2017. There now is zero difference in the six-year graduation rate from Pell Grant recipients, who come from lower income households, to students who do not receive the federal assistance.

Financial aide disbursements also have increased from $314 million in 2013-2014 to $364 million in 2013-2014. Still, tuition overall has risen by more than 50 percent at the school since Khator came to the college in 2008.

This story will be updated. Check chron.com for updates.