After 86% Tuition Increase, Texas Senate Says “Enough Is Enough”
The Texas Senate has voted to limit future tuition hikes, including
a 5–percent yearly cap for the largest universities in the state,
after seeing the state’s 35 public universities increase tuition and
fees 86 percent since 2003, reports The Dallas Morning News (“Bill
Limiting College Tuition and Fee Hikes Clears Texas Senate,” May 5,
2009).
Under the proposed law, all colleges and universities whose rates
currently exceed the state’s median tuition and fee rate would
either have to hold their tuition and fees at 5 percent or at the
average rate of inflation, whichever figure is lower. If the bill
becomes law, the new restrictions would apply to 17 state
universities.
The bill will “make sure all Texans who seek the opportunities
higher education can provide are not priced out of a world-class
education,” said Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.
Six years ago lawmakers handed over the control of setting tuition
rates and fees to the governing boards of the state’s colleges and
universities, a move that legislators have since regretted after
seeing tuition jump so dramatically in such a short period of time,
according to The Dallas Morning News.
Sen. Judith Zaffirini, the bill’s sponsor, drafted the legislation
not only in the hopes of preventing similar tuition increases in the
future, but also to remove the possibility of wiggle room for
schools when setting their tuition and fees: the measure includes
provisions that expressly prohibit schools from raising fees or
levying any additional charges of any kind.
“There will be no more games played” by universities with tuition
and fees, Zaffirini said, citing complaints from Texas families
statewide.
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