| The organization from which Greater Texas Foundation evolved was founded in 1981 as the Greater East Texas Higher Education Authority. At the time, students borrowed from private lenders to pay for their higher education under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). Greater East Texas incentivized this practice by serving as a nonprofit secondary buyer for loans in southeast Texas and by providing information to schools and students about the FFELP. Over time, the organization grew, adding a loan servicing arm and acquiring a loan portfolio.
In 2001, the board elected to expand the organization’s charitable purpose by splitting it into two entities. Greater Texas Foundation would function as a public charity, while LoanSTAR Funding Group would hold the organization’s loan-related assets. In 2005, Greater Texas Foundation sold its stock in LoanSTAR and invested the proceeds to create an endowment. Over the next several years, the foundation awarded millions of dollars in grants to educational programs, particularly those focused on math and science.
The foundation’s mission and strategy continued to evolve along with an improved understanding of Texas students. Today, Greater Texas Foundation functions as a private foundation with a vision for all Texas students to have equal opportunity to access and succeed in postsecondary education. Grounded in our values of collaboration and partnership, innovation, sustainable impact, integrity, and equity, we support efforts to ensure all Texas students are prepared for, have access to, persist in, and complete postsecondary education. We pursue our mission by forming partnerships, supporting research, sharing knowledge, and making grants, and we put particular focus on helping underserved and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. We are guided by a strategic plan centered on four key goals to optimize our impact on students. To learn more, please visit www.greatertexasfoundation.org/strategy. |
