Texas higher education officials want more money and major changes to the popular Texas Grants financial program for the state's poor and lower-middle income students.
After budget cuts in 2011, the Higher Education Coordinating Board asking the Legislature for an extra $164 million over the next two years.
Officials also propose reducing the amount students can receive by nearly half, capping the grants to eight total semesters and putting in place some new academic requirements.
The board says those changes would help spread the money to more students who need help paying for college.
Created in 1999, the Texas Grants program has spent more than $2 billion helping more than 300,000 college students go to school.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
