Texas University Fund (TUF)

Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023

FIND POLLING LOCATIONS 

DO YOU KNOW WHAT TEXAS’ PROP 5 WOULD DO FOR UNT?

On Nov. 7, Texans will vote on Proposition 5 to decide whether to establish the Texas University Fund (TUF). This constitutional amendment would create the TUF endowment, which would directly benefit UNT, University of Houston, Texas Tech and Texas State.

If successful, the bipartisan-supported TUF would provide new funding directly to UNT each year to conduct more research, elevate national rankings and ultimately create more career-ready graduates to help drive the state’s economy.

With nearly 47,000 students and 244 degree programs, UNT is the fourth-largest — and fastest-growing — institution in Texas, playing a critical higher education role as the North Texas region’s population continues to soar and is expected to expand to more than 35 million within the next decade. UNT has accounted for 52% of the growth in new enrollees across all public universities in Texas since 2019, and we are committed to continuing to meet the needs of our rapidly growing North Texas region.

What is the Texas University Fund?

If approved in November, the Texas University Fund, commonly referred to as the TUF, will be a $3.9 billion permanent endowment to ensure sustainable funding for eligible universities – including UNT – that do not receive benefits from the Permanent University Fund (PUF). The four universities were determined by objective criteria based on research expenditures and doctoral degrees awarded on an annual basis, and funds would be distributed on a merit-based system that correlates to each institution’s research expenditures. These four universities serve more than 160,000 students from working, middle class families from across the state.

Texas currently only has two universities ranked in the top 50 nationwide, and the TUF is part of a broader effort to elevate UNT and the other three universities into national prominence as major research universities and to drive the Texas economy. 

The TUF endowment consists of a one-time allocation from the Texas budget surplus, combined with funds from the existing National Research University Fund and supplemented with interest income from the Economic Stabilization Fund. It involves no new taxes.