Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

"Keeping Hope Alive - Paying For College in Texas Today"

Dear Ms. Castillo:

Recently, you wrote to ask about the dream of college education in Texas. You asked, “What happened to tuition and how do we keep the dream of college alive?”

Here’s a story that has not been told. What is happening in Texas today is tax breaks for millionaires are being paid by increasing tuition on college students like you.  In 2003, Texas was faced with a $10 billion shortfall in the budget.  Instead of protecting critical investments in health and education, state leaders railroaded tax breaks for the wealthiest Texans, then hiked tuition through de—regulation.

In a state where just 26% of Texans aged 25 to 65 have a college education or better, hiking tuition to pay for tax cuts is a policy we can not afford.

To remain a competitive state, Texas' master plan for higher education—"Closing the Gaps"—says we must add 630,000 college students by 2015.  If we achieve this goal, we will see higher levels of income, lower levels of unemployment and poverty, and higher levels of civic participation. 

While a person with a high school diploma earns $1,716,431 over a lifetime, a person with a bachelor's degree earns on average $2,918,002.  Just as the Texas economy needs more of our state's students to participate in higher education institutions of higher education are being priced out of reach for many residents of this state.

Students like you can't afford to get ahead through education. 

Since tuition deregulation began in the 2003 fall semester, the total amount paid by students for education at public institutions of higher education has increased more than 40 percent statewide, and, as of fall 2006, institutions had increased designated tuition charged to their students per academic year by $266,313,285.  As a result, many students are forced to postpone higher education, take time off of school, or obtain high-cost student loans. 

At UTEP alone, the total amount paid has increased by over 56 percent.

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TEXAS Grants is one program that works to turn the tide—but like too many investments in the people of our state today it is on life support.  TEXAS Grants is a grant program that was created to make sure that well-prepared high school graduates with financial need could go to college.  A TEXAS Grant may be used to attend any public institution of higher education in Texas.   Since the program was created in 1999, it has been regarded as a huge success.  In 2000, nearly 11,000 students had received a TEXAS Grant to pay for college; by 2006, a total of 161,000 students had received 327,000 TEXAS Grants to help achieve the dream of college.  Unfortunately, funding has failed to keep up with the demand: the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board estimates that over 38,000 eligible students will not receive a TEXAS Grant in the 2007-08 academic year.

Making this situation even more troublesome are recent revelations that private lenders across the country provided benefits to schools and school officials to help direct students toward the lender.  This resulted in investigations across the country.  For example, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sent thirty-nine collegiate athletic departments, including UTEP, Texas Christian University, and the University of Houston, either subpoenas or requests for all information regarding the institutions' relationships with a student lender.  Student debt has gone up nationally at the same time that Texas' tuition costs have dramatically spiked over the past four years.  Texas must act to prevent conflicts of interest and other ethical lapses by those in financial aid offices who may have power to steer students to a particular lender.

As a result of these increased costs students at UTEP have voted with their feet.  In 1988, UTEP and the El Paso Community College (EPCC) had similar enrollments.  Today, EPCC has 22,645 students - 12 percent more than UTEP.  EPCC's tuition is also 70 percent lower than UTEP's.  Many students who have contacted us have cited UTEP's 56 percent increase in tuition as the reason to leave for EPCC.

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Let’s go back to 2003, when Tom Craddick and others first launched the Great Texas Tax Shift.  Back then, millionaires paid inheritance taxes.  If a person died with more than a million dollars, the state would get a percentage of what had to be paid to the federal government.  The millionaires thus delivered over $300 million each year to the Texas treasury. 

With the inheritance tax cut by George Bush at the federal level, this left a big hole in the Texas budget.  In its place, Tom Craddick and others backed tuition deregulation.  Under this new idea, tuition would be deregulated and ‘float’ to the level that the market might bear.  What really happened was that taxes shifted from millionaires to students.

These are moral choices.  In our government, budgets reflect our values.  Our vision should be broad-based and forward-looking toward our long-term prosperity.  To close the gap in Texas, we must graduate more of our best and brightest.  If we invest in our greatest resource, our children, Texas will be the state of the future. 

That is why last session I filed SB 1573, also known as the 21st Century College Success Act.  This bill would have instituted a three-year moratorium on tuition and fee increases.  After the three-year moratorium, there would have been a 5 percent cap on any increases thereafter.  With the moratorium and the 5 percent increase, I hoped that students and their families would be able to plan for how to pay for their degree.  When a student can map out any potential increases in tuition and fees, they will have the power to map their future. 

Unfortunately, the bill died in the Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education.  But, we will keep on fighting.  More than ever in the last decade, people want to know if their child can go to college. Tuition de—regulation is a hot topic all across Texas. In at least two Texas Senate races, tuition hikes are among the top three issues.

Next session, we will file similar legislation to stem the flow of increasing tuition costs.  Maintaining access to affordable, quality higher education is essential to the future of Texas.

For more information, I invite you to review a document produced by our office titled UTEP 2015.  The document outlines solutions for the problems facing UTEP students.  The document may be found by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page. 

Again, thank you for contacting me. As we like to say, our students and the future of our great state are worth the fight!