Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

 Tuition and fees will increase an average of 5 percent to 13 percent next year for undergraduates at University of Texas campuses, in many cases far exceeding a promised cap of nearly 5 percent, UT System regents decided Wednesday.

The board unanimously approved new rates for the next two school years. The lowest average increase next year will be at the flagship campus in Austin, where in-state undergraduates will pay an average of about $8,500 next school year, up almost 5 percent. Rates will climb at about the same pace the year after that, to nearly $9,000.
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"If the price keeps going up, I'm just going to have to go to another school or get a degree from a community college," said Joshua Smith, a UT-Arlington junior who works full time at Best Buy to pay for college. The sticker price at UTA will rise 6.5 percent next year, to an average of about $8,100.

Students at UT-Brownsville will face the steepest jump next year, up 13 percent to an average of about $5,500. The following year's increase will be more modest, up a little over 3 percent to nearly $5,700.

In December, UT regents pledged to hold annual increases to in-state tuition and required fees at the undergraduate campuses to 4.9 percent or $300, whichever is greater. But only three of the system's nine campuses – Austin, El Paso and Pan American – stuck to the cap.

The others, including UT-Arlington and UT-Dallas, were allowed to exceed the cap because of fees students had already approved for transportation, recreation and other services.

UT System Chancellor Mark Yudof said that in some cases, those fees would have put campuses at the cap without providing for some important needs.

"It didn't pay the salary of the Spanish professor or the chemistry professor, and it didn't maintain the buildings," Mr. Yudof said. Allowing exceptions, he said, "was the fairest thing under the circumstances."

The original resolution said the system would consider waiving the cap for "truly exceptional circumstances." Student-approved fees were not mentioned.

"I think frankly, the regents hadn't thought that far ahead in the process," said David Prior, the system's executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, adding that he believes the student fee exceptions are fair.

UT-Arlington exceeded the cap because of an extra $120-a-year fee for a new recreation center. Students approved the fee in 2005.

Mr. Smith grants that the recreation center is nice. But he doesn't think such fees should be exempted from tuition caps. "It seems like the colleges are using it as a loophole to get more money out of students," he said.

Christopher Harrison, a UTA senior who sat on a campus committee that drafted the tuition proposal, said that he didn't hear much grumbling about the plan and that students seemed pretty supportive.

"It's not a huge increase," he said, "and the cost of tuition is going up no matter where you go."

Under state law, a certain percentage of tuition increase money must go toward financial aid. William Powers, president of UT-Austin, noted that his campus has spared low-income students from all tuition increases in recent years.

Nationally, tuition and fees have increased faster than inflation every year since 1980, according to the College Board.

At UT-Brownsville, Crystal Olivo has mixed feelings about the 13 percent jump.

"Any kind of increase, most students are against that. They don't want to pay more money," said Ms. Olivo, president of the student senate.

On the other hand, she said, most students receive scholarships and financial aid, so few pay the full sticker price. And students approved extra fees to benefit the soccer program and other activities, she said.

Still, she said she's concerned that financial aid may not keep up with rising college costs – a sentiment that financial aid officers from campuses across Texas have expressed. And there are many costs beyond tuition and fees that keep rising, Ms. Olivo said.

"Even when it comes to textbooks, it feels like a slap in the face to students," she said.

Tuition and fees at Texas public colleges have risen more than 40 percent on average since 2003 as the Legislature has allowed per-student funding to drop. In response, lawmakers let campuses set their own tuition rates.

At Texas A&M University, tuition and fees are expected to rise 6.5 percent next year. A&M regents meet this week to consider the proposal.