About the Entry

These stories offer a close look at Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick’s plan to slash college tuition grants and its potential impact on some of the Lone Star State’s neediest students.

• How Dan Patrick’s plan to slash tuition grants could keep some Texans from college
• Lawmakers consider Dan Patrick’s call to ax $345M in aid for poor, needy college students

Entry Credit

• Ariana Giorgi, Computational Journalist, The Dallas Morning News
• Lauren McGaughy, Staff Writer, The Dallas Morning News
• J. David McSwane, Data and Enterprise Reporter, The Dallas Morning News

Comments from the Judges

“Powerful story, well-reported and well-organized and presented. Great detail, presented in a very useful way. Impressive impact – got the policymaker leading the charge to eliminate these subsidies for lower and middle income students to completely reverse himself, and caused enough focus to get hearings on the subject via the legislature.”

“This was a great and ambitious idea for a data-driven project that served a genuine public service: proactively highlighting the disparate impacts of cutting tuition grants in Texas. The Morning News expertly combined data analysis with personal narrative to tell the story in a clear and compelling way.”

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