A set of core values guided the task force throughout its duration and in the writing of its report:
- The UT System Student Success Framework includes a pillar focused on Finances articulated as follows: The UT System is committed to making sure that no student drops out of college because of financial hardship.
- The effort to promote affordability and affordable learning options and resources for students, must include attention to closing gaps in outcomes across student populations so that all students have access to, persist through, participate in, and complete high-quality degrees.
- Affordability must be delivered without sacrificing quality: UT System institutions are committed to teaching and learning resources and business strategies that are affordable and high-quality.
- The Task Force will honor and respect student governance and work to address the priorities identified by the UT System Student Advisory Council (SAC) in their 2018-19 Recommendations to the Chancellor.
- The Task Force will honor and respect faculty governance and autonomy, including priorities identified by the UT System Faculty Advisory Council (FAC). In particular, the Task Force will pay close attention to protecting faculty intellectual property and copyright, oversight of the curriculum, and academic freedom in determining appropriate resources for the courses they teach.
- In fulfilling the charge of the Affordable Learning Accelerator Task Force, members will follow a SMART process in accomplishing its charge and completing deliverables: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based.
- Task Force members will be open to outside-the-box thinking, flipping orthodoxies, and disrupting business as usual, as appropriate.
