University of Texas and Texas A&M University: A Comparison of Systems

In the United States, many states coordinate groups of their respective universities via a system level of governance that attends to the curricular needs of the citizenry by establishing and supporting institutions dispersed throughout the state. Such support is not only related to administrative functions (e.g., approval of academic programming, chief executives, faculty appointments, and construction) but also financial in terms of institutional funding. As the latter is dependent upon the availability of system level funds, system endowments greatly influence institutional appropriations and, thus, the operation of member institutions. The purpose of this article is to compare average, macrolevel performance measures—some of which related to expenditures—between the institutions that represent the two most highly endowed systems in the United States and are, interestingly, located in the same state: the University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems. As they attend to the needs of ostensibly similar citizens, differences in spending and performance provide macrolevel topics for future discussion.