Increasing tuition costs may finally become a hot political issue
November 18, 2007
Where there is outrage, there finally may be political opportunity. Or so some Democrats are hoping, following news that the tuition deregulation law is about to dig even deeper into thousands of family budgets.
Written by Clay Robison, San Antonio Express-News
AUSTIN — Where there is outrage, there finally may be political opportunity. Or so some Democrats are hoping, following news that the tuition deregulation law is about to dig even deeper into thousands of family budgets.
The law, enacted in 2003 to help offset cuts in higher education appropriations, was demanded by House Speaker Tom Craddick, who forced Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and the Senate to accept it in late-session deliberations over the state budget.
For the first time, university regents were empowered to raise tuition free of legislative control, and student costs soon started rising significantly.
Basic academic charges, including tuition and fees, for resident undergraduates in state-supported schools increased an average of 37 percent between fall 2003 and fall 2006, according to the most recent data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Basic costs at the University of Texas at Austin increased 47 percent and will rise by another 8 percent next year and 7 percent the year after that, if regents adopt an advisory committee's recommendations.
University officials insist the ever-higher tuition is necessary because legislative appropriations aren't meeting their needs.
So far, the tuition deregulation law hasn't been a major issue in legislative races. Rep. Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, the House Higher Education Committee chairwoman who sponsored the bill for Craddick, drew only a minor independent re-election opponent in 2004 and was unopposed last year.
But now that Craddick is fighting to keep his speakership, some Democrats want to make higher tuition a pocketbook issue against some of Craddick's supporters in 2008 House races.
"There is not a person anywhere — middle-income people with children in college — who are not impacted by this," said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. "It's an issue that clearly defines the difference between a Tom Craddick House and a House led by somebody else."
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