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NEWS
| November 5, 2003
Tuition and Fees
Proposal: $10-per credit hour spring
increase
The final tuition proposal includes
raising the rates as well as two student fees.
By Chris
Baggott
The Shorthorn staff
Officials say the final tuition increase proposal will cost students
less than anticipated, although there will be additional budget
cuts to make up the difference.
The university’s final proposal, influenced by suggestions
from the administration and Tuition Review Committee, has tuition
increasing $10 per credit hour in the spring and an additional $17
per credit hour next fall. A pilot program in the plan will also
increase tuition $10 per credit hour for upper-level engineering
and upper- and graduate level nursing courses. Graduate-level engineering
courses will increase $20 per credit hour.
Interim President Charles Sorber submitted his recommendation Monday
to the UT System. Dr. Sorber’s recommendation includes a $3-per-credit-hour
increase in the computing and information technology fee and a $2-per-credit-hour
increase in the Library fee.
Along with the increases, the plan calls for a $3-per-credit-hour
refund for students who pay in full by the due date. Both programs
will be initiated in fall 2004.
The proposal comes to about $1 more than the committee recommended,
but the refund for prompt payment should allow many students to
get back part of their tuition, Sorber said.
“If a student pays his tuition on time, he’ll only pay
the $1 more, but, with the discount, he’ll come in cheaper
than the Tuition Review Committee recommended,” he said.
Originally, administrators recommended an increase of $15 per credit
hour in the spring and an additional $20 per credit hour in the
fall. The Tuition Review Committee recommended an increase of $8
per credit hour in the spring and the same in the fall. It also
recommended a new student operations fee members say would have
accounted for the majority of the university’s needs.
John Hall, interim vice president for administration and campus
operations, said the main problem with decreasing the administration’s
original proposal is the budget cuts that follow. The university’s
Physical Plant budget was cut by about $1.5 million. This means
that many projects, such as roofing and replacing electrical wiring
in some buildings, must be pushed back, he said.
“They took the biggest hit,” Sorber said. “But
that’s where we felt we could do it and maintain the academic
atmosphere of the university.”
Hall said the university can’t afford to ignore the need for
maintenance forever.
“We are having to do more with less,” he said. “It’s
a difficult position to maintain.”
Sorber said his proposal was geared more toward students than facilities.
It focuses more on tuition than fees because the university needs
to generate more financial aid money. He said the Office of General
Council told him the university didn’t have the authority
to create the new fee without legislative approval.
A portion of revenue generated by the increases is set aside for
financial aid: 20 percent at the undergraduate level and 15 percent
at the graduate level. These numbers were set by the Legislature
during its third special session. Five percent of undergraduate
set-asides will be sent to Austin for the Texas B-On-Time loan program.
The set-asides include a new program to provide grants for part-time
students to help them absorb the increases, Sorber said.
“We’ve never done much for part-time students in financial
aid,” he said. “It’s really important to work
with these students.”
Financial Aid Director Karen Krause said grants for part-time students
will be available in fall 2004.
Krause said financial aid recipients will have their awards automatically
adjusted to help pay for the increase. The fee increases mean there
may not be as much money available, she said.
“I think it will be enough to be reasonable,” she said.
“We should still be able to help a significant number of students.”
Sorber said the program to increase tuition for upper- and graduate-level
engineering and nursing courses makes students who benefit from
those degree plans pay for them. Those degree programs cost more
in equipment and manpower, Sorber said, and increasing their cost
should offset the cost of the programs.
The program is called a pilot program because the university plans
to see if changes need to be made as time goes on, he said. The
plan is to increase upper-level tuition once and then continue at
the new level; there will not be a subsequent increase, Sorber said.
The increases will provide needed funding, but cutting costs is
still a priority, Hall said. He said the different cost-saving procedures
would lead to “very significant dollars” coming back
into the university. The money generated will be used mainly to
finance the university’s debt capacity, which determines how
much money the university can borrow to maintain the campus facilities
and build more, he said.
“We’re well within our debt capacity for the debt that
is currently outstanding,” he said. “To expand the campus
we require additional debt capacity.”
From there to here
A look at the three suggestions for increasing tuition.
Final recommendation:
• $10-per-credit-hour increase in the spring
• Additional $17-per-credit-hour increase in the fall
• $10-per-credit-hour increase for upper-level engineering
and nursing courses and for graduate-level nursing courses.
• $20-per-credit-hour increase for graduate-level engineering
courses.
• $3-per-credit-hour increase in the computing and information
technology fee in the fall.
• $2-per-credit-hour increase in the library fee in the fall.
Original administration recommendation:
• $15-per-credit-hour increase in the spring.
• Additional $20-per-credit-hour increase in the fall.
• $10-per-credit-hour increase for upper-level engineering
and nursing courses.
• $15-per-credit-hour increase for graduate-level engineering
courses.
Tuition Review Committee recommendation:
• $8-per-credit-hour increase in the spring.
• Additional $8-per-credit-hour increase in the fall.
• $10-per-credit-hour increase for upper-level engineering
and nursing courses.
• $15-per-credit-hour increase for graduate-level engineering
courses.
• $3-per-credit-hour increase in the computing and information
technology fee in the spring.
• Creation of a Student Operations Fee set at $12 per credit
hour in the spring.
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| Charles
Sorber, interim president, says he tried to
keep student interest in mind while preparing the proposal.
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