TUITION DEREGULATION –
GIVING AWAY THE FUTURE OF TEXAS
“If you wanted a benchmark, the best I could do is to say that the
tuition at UT-Austin is 27 percent lower than the tuition at
comparable universities around the country. They have roughly the
same cost structures we do, and we charge 27 percent less tuition.”
-Mark Yudof, UT System Chancellor1
Fact: The US News and World Report ranks UT-Austin 15th in
top-ranked public universities2, but it is the 5th most expensive
of the same 15.
The University of Texas System is proposing a shift in power away from
legislators and towards the Board of Regents. Tuition deregulation would
remove the decision to increase tuition from elected legislators and place it
in the hands of appointed regents. At a time of state budget crisis, this move
may be tempting to some, but it threatens to put an end to affordable
education in Texas.
WHAT IS TUITION DEREGULATION?
Definition - Tuition deregulation would take the power to set tuition
from the Texas Legislature and giving it to the UT-System Board of Regents.
WHY SHOULD TUITION DEREGULATION BE OPPOSED?
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It will drastically increase tuition rates
It will create a two-tiered university system
It will reduce accountability of the University System to the Legislature
and the voters
There is no doubt that the regents would increase tuition, the only
questions is how much? Currently, the Regents have the authority to
implement fees (e.g. Union Fee, Students Services Fee). Using fees, the
University has been able to skirt the Texas Legislature’s tuition caps. As a
consequence, fees have risen at a much greater rate than tuition.
In 1970, total fees were $54 per semester3
In 1987 they were $195 per semester
In 2002 they were over $1150 per semester
Deregulation will increase tuition and fee rates
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Higher tuition and fees reduce accessibility to higher education
This will disproportionately affect minority students
It will also reduce UT’s competitive edge, statewide and
nationally
As tuition and fee rates increase, fewer low-income and middle class
students are able to afford higher education. With debt burdens of college
graduates at record levels, more and more students can no longer start,
much less finish, an undergraduate degree. Because college graduates earn
more and pay more in taxes, this certainly impacts the state’s economy and
general welfare negatively.
Blacks and Hispanics make up over 43% of Texas’ population,
according to the 2000 census, but they are still not being educated at the
same levels as whites. Increasing tuition would negatively impact nonwealthy Blacks and Hispanics seeking college educations. In Texas, nonHispanic white men are nearly four times as likely as Hispanic men, and over
twice as likely as Black men to have a college degree. Non-Hispanic white
women are three times as likely as Hispanic women and over one-and-a-half
times as likely as Black women to have a college degree in Texas.
UT System schools are no longer as affordable as they once were.
While UT is mandated to provide a first rate education to students whether
rich or poor, further increases in tuition rates, beyond the costs of inflation,
would threaten this mandate. It would also make less highly accredited
schools more tempting to Texas students, because affordability is a key
components of UT’s competitiveness.
It will create a two-tiered university system
Already, students at UT Austin are more likely to be well-off than
students at UT Pan-Am. If the Regents gain power to set different tuition
rates at different schools, this trend will be exacerbated, creating a flagship
university for the wealthy, and a number of subsidiary schools for everyone
else. Tuition deregulation did just this in Britain and Ottawa, Canada.
It will reduce accountability of the University to the Legislature and therefore
the voters.
If the University gains the ability to set tuition rates internally, it will
feel less compelled to comply with accountability measures and other
requests from the Texas State Legislature. As tuition and fees become a
larger part of the UT System’s operating budget and state funds become a
smaller part, the Legislature, and therefore the voters, will have less say in
how the state university spends its money. Defined by all as a public good, a
public university should also be accountable to the citizenry that is both
subsidizing it and benefiting from it. Texas' elected officials have the power
to ensure that UT remains accountable to Texas voters.
WHAT ABOUT THE UT SYSTEM’S “TEXAS COMPACT” PROPOSAL?
The “Texas Compact” is largely a repackaging of existing grants. Even
according to UT officials it has nothing to do with tuition deregulation. While
the guarantee of free tuition and fees to students is a good thing, it has
been offered as “absolutely contingent” upon tuition deregulation. But the
funds to pay for the Compact won’t come, in any substantial way, from
tuition money – so there’s little connection between the two. Furthermore,
unlike the Texas Grant program, the Texas Compact requires students to be
enrolled full-time to be eligible. This jeopardizes the ability of working and
non-traditional students to maintain financial solvency in light of new tuition
increases.
HOW DO STUDENTS FEEL ABOUT TUITION DEREGULATION?
UT-Austin’s Student government has condemned tuition deregulation.
UT Dallas and Texas A&M student governments have likewise voted in
opposition to tuition deregulation. A number of student organizations have
also announced their opposition to tuition deregulation.
WHAT CAN LEGISLATORS DO?
Don't give away Texas' future. Please vote no on any bill which
would deregulate tuition in the state of Texas.
For more information please contact: Molly Rogers at (512) 217-0413 or
mollyrogers1@hotmail.com
Austin American Statesman. Friday, February 14, 2003
US News and World Report, America’s Best Colleges 2003
3 These data come from "A 33-year Trend in Tuition and Fees: The Cost of Attending the University of
Texas at Austin." Figures are for an in-state undergraduate student taking 15 semester hours. For a copy
please email Molly Rogers at mollyrogers1@hotmail.com
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