High-Demand Fields

Overview

Texas Education Code Section 130A.101(c)(1) provides for public junior colleges to earn additional funding for a credential conferred in a high-demand field (HDF). Under Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Chapter 13, Subchapter T, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (Coordinating Board) executes three different processes to identify high-demand occupations at the statewide and regional levels. Those processes include a standard methodology, the Essential Occupations petition, and the Emerging Occupations designation. When an occupation is placed on the state or a regional high-demand occupations list, all academic fields associated with that occupation are designated as HDF on the corresponding list.

Standard HDF Methodology

Beginning with Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, the list of high-demand fields uses a methodology that represents the variety of occupations in the complex Texas economy and the specific needs of each unique region.
 
It begins by ranking groups of occupations (defined at the four-digit SOC level) by the total statewide number of new jobs projected over the next 10 years by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This total generally includes only the occupations within the group that require at least some education/training after high school or certain types of licensure but less than a bachelor’s degree. Teaching professions are a notable exception; since many community colleges offer teacher certification programs, they are included despite requiring bachelor’s degrees. Some healthcare professions, like registered nursing, are also included despite being listed as bachelor’s-level occupations, since many are accessible with an associate degree in Texas. All occupations within the top 10 occupation groups that meet the education/training criteria are designated as statewide high-demand occupations.
 
The method then does the same ranking of occupation groups for each of Texas’ 12 economic regions (as defined by the Texas Comptroller). All qualifying occupations within the top five occupation groups on a region’s list (after excluding the groups that appear on the statewide top-10 list) are the high-demand occupations for that region.
 
An institution’s default region is determined by the Texas Comptroller region where its main campus is located. Rule 13.592 established the initial regional assignments for FY 2025, but institutions have an annual opportunity to request to switch to a neighboring region that overlaps with its service area by emailing CCFinance@highered.texas.gov no later than March 1 before the fiscal year when the reassignment would take effect. Once reassigned, an institution must remain within that region for at least four years. Current regional assignments can be found in the most recent High-Demand Occupations Workbook, published April 2025 (view the Regional Assignment tab).
 
Each college’s high-demand occupations consist of the high-demand occupations from the statewide list and from the list for its region. The “SOC-CIP Crosswalk,” created jointly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Department of Education (refer to the High-Demand Occupations Workbook), provides a list of all the academic fields that prepare students for each occupation. If an academic field prepares students for a high-demand occupation according to this crosswalk, then it is a high-demand field and credentials conferred in that field are eligible for the HDF funding rate.

Essential and Emerging Occupations

There are separate processes by which occupations not selected through the standard HDF methodology can be identified as high-demand occupations and have their cross-walked academic fields recognized as high-demand fields.
 
Through the Essential Occupations petition process, an institution or consortium of institutions may petition to add additional occupations that have particular importance for the regional economy or community. The petition process occurs in odd-numbered years, with final recommendations made to the Commissioner of Higher Education no later than July 15 of each odd-numbered year and approved occupations taking effect September 1.

Under the Emerging Occupations process, the Commissioner of Higher Education may add occupations to the statewide list of high-demand occupations in consultation with the Office of the Governor. An Emerging Occupation must be aligned with a state legislative priority.

High-Demand Fields Lists

A credential’s high-demand field status is based on the list in effect for the year in which it was conferred, not the year in which the funding is delivered. For example, credentials conferred in FY 2025 are considered high-demand field credentials only if they align with the FY 2024-2025 high-demand fields list, even when they are considered as an input to FY 2026 of FY 2027 funding.

For Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027

The FY 2026-2027 High-Demand Fields List contains all the academic fields in which a credential conferred in FY 2026 or FY 2027 earns the HDF funding rate. It is based on the analysis of updated data released by the Texas Workforce Commission and the Essential Occupations petition process carried out in the spring of 2025. Pursuant to Rule 13.597, all HDFs that were in effect for FY 2024-2025 remain in effect for FY 2026-2027, even if they fell off the list; two consecutive “failures” are required for a field to drop off the list entirely, ensuring that an HDF receives HDF funding for at least four years.

FY 2026-2027 High Demand Fields List (also contains FY24-25 and FY23 HDF lists)

For Fiscal Year 2023

The FY 2023 High-Demand Fields List contains all academic fields in which a credential conferred in FY 2023 earns the HDF funding rate. FY 2023 credentials were a funding input for both FY 2024 and FY 2025 but were adopted by the Coordinating Board based on a different methodology from the one currently in rule. The list was assembled from a set of the 25 occupations that provide at least a median wage, require education or training beyond high school but below a bachelor’s degree, and are projected to experience the most growth in each of the 10 higher education regions, based on data from the Texas Workforce Commission. The list also includes occupations that appear in at least seven of the 10 regional lists or in any region’s top five. Every academic field associated with those occupations was added to the list of high-demand fields. The final list combined the “critical fields” under the legacy student success points system with the fields determined through the HDF methodology described above.