Get The Facts

state support

Fact 1: UH is like a Non-Profit Organization

What?! 

That’s right – it’s true!  Your University of Houston operates as a not-for-profit.  UH is not in business to make money.  Any “surplus” funding UH might generate or receive is used to pursue its bigger goals –

•    teaching, as many as we can accommodate and afford to educate
•    research that will change lives in Houston, across our nation, even around the globe
•    service to our community in ways that our unique resources (brain power!) allow us to do. 

Fact 2: UH is a State-Assisted School

OK, we’re not a private school.  We receive substantial funding from the State of Texas through the legislative process…public taxes and fees that are distributed to us.  But in 2012, state funds made up just 22% of the entire UH budget!  Assistance we need—no doubt!  But the days of ‘state schools’ funded almost entirely through public monies are long gone.

Fact 3: Tuition Doesn’t Cover the Cost of a Whole School Year

We know, right?!  Everyone knows tuition is rising, but not everyone knows that tuition covers less than half of the cost to educate a student. Tuition is expensive and it means that some people have to work really hard to get through school.  But in 2012, student tuition & fees covered just 42% of the total cost for a Houston Cougar education.  

Fact 4: Great Universities are Built by Great Communities

The entire UH budget, which includes the entire cost of an education from library books to shuttle buses, includes 36% from other sources, including private support.  What does ‘private support’ mean, you ask? 

Donations for one!  Charitable gifts come from friends of the university, parents, even faculty and staff, and, of course, our wonderful and loyal UH alumni.  Each year they donate to UH to help make higher education a reality for all students like you...and they don't even know you!

So when you hear that ‘Philanthropy is a proud Coog tradition’ and that ‘Every gift from UH alumni makes a difference’ – IT’S TRUE!  Want to see how loyalty gifts of any size make an impact, check this out.

And this fact, Fact 4, is why we gather each spring to celebrate our donors by showing appreciation for their generosity during Philanthropy Awareness Day.