Texas invests approximately $120 million annually in dual-credit programs, yet the impact of these investments remains unclear. Too often, students earn credits that do not align with their postsecondary goals, leading to wasted time, money and opportunity. The Texas Transfer Alliance, hosted by Educate Texas and facilitated by Sova, is working to change this reality through an innovative approach called Target Pathways.
Why Target Pathways Matter
Target Pathways represent a fundamental shift in how we think about student progression from high school through four-year degree completion. These regional, discipline-aligned, 60-credit pathways—which help advance the state’s Texas Direct policy—ensure that every credit a student earns moves them closer to their educational and career goals. Whether the student starts in dual credit, early-college high school or a traditional community college, there is an agreed-upon 60-credit pathway that fulfills requirements for completing high school and the associate degree. Equally important, this 60-credit pathway fulfills transfer eligibility to multiple bachelor’s-granting institutions in the region.
The need for this work is urgent and multifaceted. One key reason is this simple fact: The large majority of students in high school and community college cannot know to which bachelor’s-granting institution they will be admitted because of how the current system is designed. The result? Students cannot know which courses to take, because each receiving institution imposes different requirements. Meanwhile, the state has committed to increasing access to dual credit in high schools, early-college high school programs and community colleges to increase postsecondary success. Unfortunately, students are often offered courses that may not transfer, resulting in repeated coursework and delayed graduation. Four-year institutions, in turn, face inconsistent preparation levels among transfer students and often do not award major credit for coursework completed elsewhere.
Texas policymakers recognize the urgency of addressing these challenges. The state has made improving dual-credit outcomes and credit applicability top priorities. Recent legislative action underscores this commitment: SB 25 and, more recently, SB 3039 focus specifically on enhancing credit applicability across institutions. HB 8 creates incentives for community colleges to improve transfer student outcomes.
Additionally, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is exploring outcomes-based funding models for public universities. The Texas Transfer Alliance sees these policy developments as a unique opportunity for Texas institutions to align their efforts with state priorities while directly serving students more effectively. In fact, some Texas colleges and universities are already doing so.
Proof of Concept: Target Pathways in Texas
Educate Texas kicked off this work through the Acceleration to Credits Working Group in the North Texas region. The A2C brings together five local independent school districts (ISDs), Dallas College and seven four-year university partners to improve the teacher pipeline. This group of 13 has agreed upon two teacher pathways already and is now supporting the ISDs to make changes locally to align course offerings to the pathway.
As Julie Southward, assistant professor at the University of North Texas–Dallas shared, “Developing a teacher pipeline in partnership with surrounding school districts and higher education institutions is essential to increasing the number of highly qualified, certified teachers. Streamlining students’ transition from high school to higher education promotes accessibility and increases the likelihood that they will complete their degrees and enter the classroom.”
Following the success in North Texas, the Texas Transfer Alliance invited additional regions into the effort. A second cohort of almost 20 partners is now working on Target Pathways for teacher preparation and business. The second cohort recently decided they’d like to engage additional partners and they have reached out to an additional group of institutions to bring them along.
Announcing Target Pathways PLUS: A Call for Regional Partnerships Across Texas
To scale this work statewide, through the generous support of Ascendium Education Philanthropy, the Texas Transfer Alliance is releasing a request for proposals in early 2026. This initiative, Target Pathways PLUS—Programs that Layer Unique Support—will provide regional partners in Texas with technical assistance, access to learning communities and funding to develop and implement regional Target Pathways.
The “PLUS” component of this initiative goes even further. Selected bachelor’s-granting institutions will work with partners to build pathways that include guaranteed-admissions programs. These programs will combine targeted advising, financial aid support, cohesive branding and student belonging initiatives to create seamless transitions and stronger support systems for transfer students.
The Texas Transfer Alliance is also building a comprehensive tool kit to support institutions in creating Target Pathways PLUS, ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are shared across the state.
The next phase of the work will be to support institutions in leveraging AI to convert those 60-credit pathways into tech-enabled degree-requirements data that can be used by cutting-edge student-facing technology solutions. We are also already working with a cohort of institutions on increasing their ability to send and receive transcript data electronically, to ensure they are able to ingest and use the data in sophisticated ways. All this work is designed to help build a learning mobility ecosystem that ensures every Texan gets a ROI for their learning and work experience and the economic mobility they deserve.
Join Us in Building Stronger Transfer Partnerships
Target Pathways PLUS represents a commitment to making every educational investment count for students. By creating regional partnerships that align course offerings, transfer requirements and student support services, we can build a more efficient and effective higher education system that develops the next generation of Texans with the skills they need and reduced debt as they work towards their dreams.
We invite Texas institutional leaders to watch for the RFP release in early 2026 and consider how your institution might participate in this transformative work. For more information, reach out to David Deggs at ddeggs@cftexas.org. We look forward to sharing what we learn in Texas with our peers and colleagues in other states.
