Any way it's tallied, cost of college rising
March 31, 2008
In December, the University of Texas Board of Regents voted to cap tuition hikes at its nine campuses, including the University of Texas at San Antonio, at 4.95 percent or $150, whichever was higher.
Written by Editorial, San Antonio Express-News
Some state university officials are playing semantics with the tuition and fees, but the bottom line is the cost of higher education is increasing for many students in Texas.
In December, the University of Texas Board of Regents voted to cap tuition hikes at its nine campuses, including the University of Texas at San Antonio, at 4.95 percent or $150, whichever was higher.
This came only after state political leaders raised a ruckus over the rapidly increasing tuition that followed a 2003 change in state law that gave university governing boards the power to set rates.
Last week, UT system regents voted to allow tuition and fee hikes at six of its nine academic campuses by as much as 9.29 percent.
That is hardly in keeping with the vote taken in December, unless you follow their creative thinking.
It seems that UT officials have decided that any new fees students have voted to impose on themselves are not being included in the percentage increase.
The new math looks great on paper, but it still means students and their parents will be paying more than they thought they would be when the caps were set.
It hardly seems fair to those who are trying to budget money for college.
Many families are struggling to meet higher education costs. At many state-funded universities, the cost of education has gone up at least 40 percent since 2003. At UTSA, the cost has gone up 72.5 percent in the last five years.
An announcement that some student loan providers are bailing out of the market and restricting, suspending or terminating some of their student loans is unwelcome news. The move is expected to affect some 7 million students across the country.
Many students cannot afford to complete their education without incurring debt. Any reduction in the number of lenders will impact higher education as a whole.
In Texas, loans comprise 66 percent of student aid compared to 56 percent for students elsewhere, Express-News Staff Writer Lisa Sandberg reported.
The cost of education will not decrease any time soon. Of course, a major factor in the steep increase in higher education at the public universities has been a lack of sufficient funding from the state.
It is ironic that lawmakers are decrying the tuition hikes being set by the universities when they repeatedly refuse to adequately fund higher education.
They cannot continue to balance the state budget by shortchanging higher education and expect to meet the state's goals of substantially increasing the number of college graduates in Texas by 2015.
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