NEWS | November 18, 2003

Tuition and Fees
Regents to decide tuition rates today
The meeting continues despite concerns the lieutenant governor raised about the increased rates.

By Kate Bolen
The Shorthorn staff

Despite Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s concerns over rapidly inflating tuition rates, the UT System Board of Regents will meet today to review and set next year’s rates for the university.

If the regents approve interim President Charles Sorber’s tuition increase recommendation submitted earlier this month, students here will pay $10 per credit hour more in the spring and an additional $17 per credit hour in the fall. Upper- and graduate-level nursing and engineering students will see additional hikes. Dr. Sorber’s plan also includes $5 per credit hour in increased fees.

Dewhurst on Friday called for the Joint Select Committee on Higher Education to meet soon to review tuition increases and financial aid. He sent letters to Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and Rep. Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, expressing his discontent over the way universities are approaching tuition deregulation, stating that “a high quality education is of little importance to people if access is denied because the cost is too expensive.”

Morrison is co-chairwoman of the joint committee.

Dewhurst’s letter said he called for the review because the rates at which Texas universities are proposing to set tuition are “higher than what we had been led to believe when the Legislature passed tuition deregulation this year.”

Dewhurst could not be reached Monday.

Most regents contacted Monday declined to comment on Dewhurst’s statement.

Regent Robert Estrada said the issue is too sensitive for him to voice an opinion.

“This is certainly a good example of how the board should speak as one voice,” he said. “I don’t want to muddy the water any more than it is.”

Student Congress President Josh Warren faxed a letter to the lieutenant governor Monday showing his support of Dewhurst’s concerns, stating that the government and students should work together to solve the problem.

Warren, also chairman of the university’s Tuition Review Committee, has been invited to speak to the regents about the university’s tuition review process. He said that, considering the nature of the meeting, he will not present his personal comments on the floor but in his letter.

“I have had many times to express my opinion on these matters, and I don’t feel like it is the proper time,” Warren said.

Although it sounds naive, he said, he hopes to speak to the lieutenant governor after the regents’ meeting.

“Many of our thoughts coincide, and I would like to see where we can work together on this issue,” Warren said. “The students and government should work with each other rather than against one another.”

He said he feels as though Dewhurst’s letter directly addressed students, which is why he responded.

He said the most important point in his letter to Dewhurst regards how the UT System got into a financial bind. In his letter, Warren blamed the Texas Legislature for the increased tuition and said it seems the government no longer holds higher education as a priority.

“They basically said, ‘We are cutting your funding, so let’s make students make up the rest,’ ” Warren said.

Dewhurst said in his letter that the taxpayers deserve to know how their money is improving the Texas educational system.

Both Dewhurst and Warren said in the letters that the future of Texas — its students — is in limbo.

“How can we ensure the highest-quality higher educational opportunities at affordable costs for the next generation of parents and students in Texas?” Dewhurst wrote.

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