The Board of Visitors Finance Committee met Thursday and approved a 3.6 percent average increase in tuition, a 4.8 percent average increase in meal plan costs and a 5 percent increase in the cost of double-room housing for the 2026-27 school year. The approval was unanimous amongst Board members, though some expressed resistance to the increases before voting in favor of them. 

The Committee heard from Jennifer Wagner Davis, executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Donna Price Henry, chancellor of the College at Wise, about reasons for the raise in tuition and rates. According to Davis and Henry, salary increases for professors and legislation passed by the General Assembly contribute to tuition and rates increases.  

The Finance Committee, chaired by Vice Rector Victoria Harker, is responsible for the University’s financial affairs and business operations, and the Committee manages the budget, tuition and student fees. 

Changes in tuition vary between schools, with the School of Law seeing at most a 5.1 percent increase, the School of Engineering & Applied Science seeing at most a 3.2 percent increase and the College of Arts and Sciences seeing at most a 3.1 percent increase in tuition for the 2026-27 school year. 

For the 2026-27 school year at the College at Wise, the Committee also unanimously approved a 2.5 percent average increase in tuition, a 3.8 percent increase in meal plans and a 2 percent increase in the cost of housing.

Last year, the Committee approved a 3 percent average increase in tuition, a 5.5 percent increase in meal plans and a 5.5 percent increase in the cost of housing for the University.

Davis cited increased costs as the primary reason for the approved increase in tuition. She said that the budget that could be passed by the General Assembly for June 30, 2027 through June 30, 2028 could increase professor salaries — University professors receive raises via this process. Davis said that the Senate and House of Delegates have separate proposals dealing with the pay increases that are currently unresolved, with House Bill 30 raising salaries by 2 percent and Senate Bill 30 raising salaries by 3 percent. 

Davis said every percent increase in faculty salaries costs the University $15 million annually, and the Commonwealth will increase funding to the University by $1-2 million to help pay for that increase. According to Davis, the most common way to stabilize the budgetary imbalance caused by raised salaries is through tuition raises. 

Beyond the increase in salary, Davis cited the minimum wage increase, inflation and Virginia Military Survivors & Dependents Education Program as increased costs to the University. VMSDEP is a program that gives education benefits to spouses and children of disabled veterans or military service members killed, missing in action or taken prisoner. Davis said that the program is “partially unfunded” and could cost the University somewhere between $3.6 to $6 million, depending on how many students qualify for the program.

Davis spoke on other contributing factors to the increase in tuition, specifically collective bargaining — which allows workers to bargain for better wages and working conditions.

“If we look at other institutions or other states that have collective bargaining, [collective bargaining] does put an upward pressure on tuition,” Davis said.

Prior to Thursday’s meeting, the Committee heard the proposal for tuition increases from Davis and Henry April 6 in a Finance Committee tuition workshop with public comment. During the tuition workshop, tuition increases ranged from 3 to 4.5 percent for the University and 2 to 3 percent for the College at Wise. Both increases approved Thursday are within the ranges originally proposed.

Meal plan costs, on average, will be increasing by 4.8 percent in the upcoming academic year. Davis said that the University has been expanding dining options with the opening of the Gaston House and new locations for the Ivy Corridor student housing that is still in progress. She also said that the University has been taking steps to increase the availability of allergen-friendly food options. 

Davis shared that the 5 percent cost increase in housing is due to the expansion of student housing in the Ivy Corridor. Davis also said that there will be 3,000 new units added to the Charlottesville housing market by 2027, of which 780 beds will be for University housing. Davis said that she hopes the Ivy Corridor housing would “free up” the city housing supply by having more students live on Grounds.

Board member Amanda Pillion said she was “concerned” about how tuition increases would harm rural families — she said the constant increases in cost could make a University education out of reach for middle-income Virginians. 

“This is the second governor I’ve served under. Both times I’ve heard affordability, affordability, affordability,” Pillion said. “We need to really be conscious of the fact that … there is a large group of people that [are middle-income] that these increases [in tuition and fees] are really tough for.”

The Committee also approved a renovation for The Park — an 18-acre recreational hub in North Grounds — which will cost $10 million. As part of the renovation, The Park will include a maintenance facility, storm water systems and a maintenance access route. Davis said the renovation will address safety and security issues for the 200 people that use The Park daily. According to Davis, the University will use $2 million of institutional funds and issue $8 million of debt to fund the renovation. 

The Finance Committee will reconvene during the regularly scheduled June Board meetings.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The ongoing war in Iran is casting a long shadow over the climate finance commitments countries agreed to in 2024, experts warned, as surging oil prices and rising defense budgets put further pressure on the limited pot of money developing nations are counting on to stave off worsening impacts from a warming planet.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund’s annual spring meetings are underway in the capital this week, with a focus on a coordinated global response to a world economy under pressure from slower growth and rising debt, exacerbating global inequities. 

The U.S. war in Iran adds new supply-chain challenges. In a press briefing Tuesday, the IMF slashed its growth forecast to 3.1 percent for the year, down from 3.3 percent in January, with global inflation rising to 4.4 percent. 

“Our severe scenario assumes that energy supply disruptions extend into next year, with greater macro instability. Global growth falls to 2 percent this year and next, while inflation exceeds 6 percent,” said Pierre‑Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s director of research. 

The blunt assessment has caused a scramble to determine what financial support the institution can offer to member states. And it has raised fresh questions about climate-finance obligations, already under strain from donor-country budget cuts and the United States jettisoning global climate commitments under the second Trump administration. One of President Donald Trump’s first actions back in office last year was ordering the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, wealthier countries that promised climate finance have experienced widening fiscal deficits and rising debt, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found in its latest assessment. As a result, aid from donor countries has already declined sharply—dropping almost 25 percent in 2025 compared to 2024. Even before the Iran conflict began, that was projected to drop further this year. 

COP29, the global climate conference held in late 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan, set a commitment of $300 billion per year by 2035, with a broader goal of reaching $1.3 trillion annually from public and private sources. Called the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), the arrangement replaced the previous $100 billion-a-year commitment that wealthy nations had met belatedly in 2022, two years after the deadline. 

Developing nations widely criticized the $300 billion figure as grossly inadequate, given the scale of the climate crisis. These countries are among the least responsible for the pollution driving that crisis and among the hardest hit by its effects. 

The Iran war has triggered a new set of worries as top economists and experts weigh potential impact and likely mitigation strategies. 

“Even before the Iran conflict, reaching the NCQG target would have been difficult, particularly with the U.S. withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. The war worsens the outlook,” said Gautam Jain, senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

He said sustained disruption of the Strait of Hormuz would exacerbate the problem and the effects would weigh on the global economy. As a result, aid budgets would decline and the political pushback to external spending would increase. 

The conflict is “pushing energy security to the forefront of government agendas,” Jain said. That will likely strengthen incentives to deploy more renewables and other forms of domestic clean energy, but the war’s economic convulsions could cut both ways for the energy transition.

“In low-income countries, the transition could be significantly delayed, given limited fiscal capacity to absorb sustained energy price shocks,” Jain said.

One of the main priorities for the World Bank during the meetings in Washington is to develop a new Climate Change Action Plan to replace the one expiring in June. “In the current geopolitical context, progress on this front looks quite unlikely,” Jain said.

Jon Sward, environment project manager at the Bretton Woods Project, which monitors World Bank and IMF policies, said countries that used to fund climate finance are now choosing to spend that money on other priorities.

The Gulf crisis exposed the fragility of a global economic system tethered to fossil fuel extraction and use, Sward noted. For countries dependent on fossil fuel imports, “this is yet another price shock, and quickly diversifying to renewables is certainly an option that many countries are looking at,” he said in an email.

He said that although multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF have begun to assess the conflict’s fallout, it is not yet clear what their response will be or how the World Bank’s climate finance would be affected.

“All of this points to the need for more serious discussions on pausing debt repayments for affected countries and the mobilisation of non-debt creating forms of finance, in order to address the multiple, overlapping shocks facing countries in the Global South, in particular,” he said in his email.

Experts said that rising security and defense expenditures were also cutting into an already limited pot of money badly needed by developing countries struggling to cope with climate challenges.   

“The system was already too fragile given that the U.S. leads all the major multilateral development banks … and has disavowed these targets,” said Kevin Gallagher, director of the Global Development Policy Center at Boston University. On top of that, he said, U.S. threats to abandon NATO’s European countries incentivizes them to prioritize  defense budgets over climate finance.

He said developing countries are already under pressure to cough up climate funding on their own. The current conflict could make that nearly impossible.  

“This year was supposed to be putting together a roadmap to take the $300 billion annual target to the agreed upon $1.3 trillion. This is likely to be abandoned unless new donors such as [the] UAE, China and others step in to fill the gap left from the West,” Gallagher said in an email. 

The crisis in the Persian Gulf makes the loudest case for renewables, he said. “The energy security argument from this conflict is to diversify from fossil fuels. The Dutch took that cue after the Middle East oil shock of the 1970s to build the world’s best wind turbines, and China did after Middle East conflicts in this century. Fossil fuels are now a bad bet on security, economic and climate grounds. The writing is on the wall.”

Gallagher said the World Bank should accelerate solar and wind technology programs across the world. “If the Fund and the Bank don’t rise to this occasion,” he said, “not only is the global economy and climate at stake, but so is the legitimacy of these institutions.” 

Gaia Larsen, a climate finance expert at the World Resources Institute, said it’s too early to know whether stronger interest in energy independence through renewables is translating into shifts in investment. But “if we’re trying to think about long-term peace and long-term access to energy, then renewables are really increasing in prominence,” she said.

This is your weekly news roundup, which takes a quick look at some developments in government, politics, education, environment and other topics across El Paso. 

El Paso GOP Congressional Candidates Not Reporting Campaign Donations

The two Republican runoff candidates for El Paso’s 16th Congressional District seat have not reported raising any money for the election, according to campaign finance reports maintained by the Federal Election Commission.

Adam Bauman, a former Border Patrol agent, and Manuel Barraza, a former lawyer and judge who was disbarred and served a prison term after being convicted of federal crimes, have not filed any reports with the FEC since becoming candidates in late 2025. Federal law requires such reports after a candidate has raised or spent $5,000.

READ MORE: Republicans Adam Bauman, Manuel Barraza head to primary runoff in District 16 Congressional race

Candidates in competitive races for the U.S. House of Representatives usually raise and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. The lack of fundraising by Republican candidates reflects expectations of national Republican leaders that the party stands little chance of unseating Democratic incumbent Veronica Escobar.

Escobar has raised more than $730,000 through March 31, and has more than $288,000 in her campaign bank account, according to her most recent FEC filing on April 15.

Bauman and Barraza were the top two vote getters in the Republican March primary, which drew seven candidates. The primary runoff is May 26, with early voting May 18-22.

Socorro ISD Conservators Prepare for Departure

The Texas Education Agency conservators appointed to oversee the Socorro Independent School District are expected to end their appointment in the coming months. Their planned departure comes as the district prepares to adopt a budget for the coming school year this summer.

“I’m going to bless your budget adoption process, and as long as you don’t deviate from where you’re going, you’re going to get rid of me,” TEA conservator Michael Hinojosa said Wednesday during a board meeting.

TEA conservator Andrew Kim attended his final board meeting with the district in March.

Hinojosa said he expects to leave SISD once the district completes the “exit criteria” set by the conservators and adopts its budget for the next school year.

The district needs to finish its customer service plan meant to improve its relationship with community members and more efficiently resolve their issues. Hinojosa said that should be done in May.

Once the exit criteria are completed, the conservators would need final approval from the Texas Commissioner of Education to officially end their oversight of the district.

Kim and Hinojosa were appointed to oversee SISD by the TEA in April 2024 after an investigation found the district was rife with leadership issues and had improperly graduated students in 2019. Conservators are expected to help implement improvements within two years of placement, according to the state education agency.

Free Solar Panels for El Paso Nonprofits? Here’s What to Know.

El Paso nonprofit organizations can receive a free solar panel system for the building they’re located in thanks to a grant program run by the advocacy group Solar United Neighbors. But applications close at the end of the day Friday.

The program is funded with a $522,000 federal grant that can pay for solar panels systems for 10 nonprofits located within the city limits. To be eligible, nonprofits have to either own the building they are located in or have a long-term lease and approval from the building’s owner. 

The idea behind the program is to help local nonprofits lower their electricity costs by generating electricity onsite, as well as to increase the amount of zero-carbon solar power generation in El Paso overall. The systems will vary in size from 6 kilowatts to 7 kilowatts of energy production capacity. Once the system is installed, the recipient nonprofit has to handle maintenance such as panel cleaning or inverter replacement. 

El Paso nonprofit organizations can apply online before the deadline Friday. Visit the city’s website to learn more.

El Paso City Council Approves Climate Bond Projects 

Years after El Paso voters in November 2022 approved $5.2 million for climate-related projects as part of the Community Progress Bond, the City Council this week approved a list of projects to install solar panel systems, increase lighting and reduce flooding. 

The funds will pay for a 500-kilowatt solar energy system at the city’s new public safety complex, which will be  one of the most energy-hungry city-owned facilities because it will operate day and night. The system will cost $1.25 million to install, but will result in total savings for the city of $2.7 million over 12 years by slashing electricity costs. 

The bond will also pay for 135 new solar-powered street lights at poorly-lit areas around the city, such as parks, the public safety complex and along dimly-lot street corridors. Those roads include Hondo Pass between Diana Drive and Railroad Drive and Bob Hope Drive between Pellicano Drive and Joe Battle Boulevard. The city will also install 120 new solar lights at Mission Hills Park, Washington Park and Veterans Park, among others. 

The solar lights will cost $2.38 million but will save an estimated $2.58 million over 20 years compared with the cost to build and operate traditional light fixtures over that same time period. 

The last bucket the bond proceeds will go toward is for so-called green infrastructure –  more vegetation in flood-prone areas. The idea is that putting in more plants can help absorb floodwater that otherwise would flow off the side of a road and affect homes or businesses. 

The city has budgeted $275,000 for the green infrastructure projects, but still has to decide exact locations to implement more greenery and flood-prevention features. 

Coronado High School Grad Runs for Congress in Virginia

El Paso native Olivia Troye, a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence who has become a leading critic of President Donald Trump, announced her candidacy this week for a U.S. House of Representatives seat from Virginia. 

A longtime Republican, Troye is running as a Democrat. In her announcement email, she highlighted the criticism and threats she has received from supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again Movement.

“MAGA wants us afraid. They want us quiet. They want us to give up. I’ve already shown them that’s not going to happen. Now I need you to stand with me,” she said.

Troye, a graduate of Coronado High School, has worked extensively in the homeland security sector. She was Pence’s homeland security advisor and played a key role in the Trump administration’s COVID-19 task force until she quit in 2020 and denounced the administration’s approach.

She was a featured speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 2024. She is joining a crowded field for the Democratic nomination in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which includes the wife of a former governor and several state lawmakers.

Public Health Department Progresses Toward Accreditation

The El Paso Department of Public Health requested from City Council on Tuesday $240,000 for a one- to two-year consulting contract with Ascendient Healthcare Advisors to help it achieve accreditation. The Public Health Accreditation Board sets the standards, which provide a way for the health department to hold itself accountable to their community, improve efficiency and make itself more competitive for future grants.

There are nine accredited health departments in Texas, but El Paso is among the largest cities in Texas that has yet to achieve this status. Accreditation would help El Paso meet the same national benchmarks as other health departments and compare their operations, health director Dr. Veerinder Taneja said in an email.

READ MORE: El Paso health director Vinny Taneja tackles staffing, funding challenges

The health department began the process in fall 2024 and targets accreditation by late 2027 to early 2028, he said. The funding for an outside consultant comes from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Infrastructure Grant.

The accreditation process includes conducting a community health assessment and developing a community health improvement plan on a routine basis, as well as documenting policies and setting local health ordinances.

“Accreditation ensures that these activities are not one-time efforts, but ongoing responsibilities that hold the department accountable for continuous improvement and community impact,” Taneja said.

It also strengthens how the department uses data to make decisions and prioritize community needs, he added.

TTHEP Faculty Physician Earns Honor from Texas Tech University System

Dr. Rebecca L. Campos, a physician teacher who practices family medicine and works to support and inspire future doctors, was one of 18 faculty members who earned a Texas Tech University System Chancellor’s Council Distinguished Teaching Award this week.

Campos, who grew up in Fabens, Texas, is an assistant professor at Texas Tech Health El Paso. She said the award, one of the system’s highest faculty honors, recognizes how teaching is an important way physicians can give back to their field.

TTU System Chancellor Brandon Creighton and TTHEP President Richard Lange presented Campos with an engraved medallion and a $5,000 stipend for her exceptional contributions to medical education. The April 13 ceremony was at the TTHEP campus.

In a TTHEP release, Creighton and Lange congratulated the awardee.

Creighton called Campos a talented and dedicated faculty member who has had a significant impact on students, and made critical contributions to TTHEP and the Paso del Norte community.

Lange said the recognition speaks to the caliber of the institution’s faculty and their commitment to advancing patient care and health care education.

Campos, a graduate of Fabens High School, earned bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and microbiology in 2004 from the University of Texas at El Paso. She then received her Doctor of Medicine degree four years later from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

She moved to San Antonio to do her family practice residency at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa, and served as the clinic director at the CHRISTUS Family Health Center before TTHEP hired her in January 2021.

To expand patient treatment options, she completed a fellowship in integrative medicine, which involves the use of nutrition, supplements as well as herbal and botanical treatments, and a physician acupuncture course.

Campos directs the Medical Skills Course at the TTHEP Foster School of Medicine, and provides patient care at the Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso at Transmountain on the Westside.