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NEWS
| October 16, 2003
Tuition and Fees
Increases make planning hard, students
say
Those who don’t qualify
for financial aid raise concerns about how they will pay.
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| The Shorthorn: Mark Roberts |
| David Gibson, a mechanical and aerospace
engineering junior, voices his concerns to members of
the Student Congress executive board Wednesday in Nedderman
Hall’s Hall of Flags. About 100 students attended
the open forum and had a chance to present questions and
concerns regarding the proposed tuition increase. |
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By Josie
Garcia
The Shorthorn staff
Mechanical engineering sophomore Neel Chatterjee is worried about
how he’ll pay for classes next semester with tuition increases.
The international student from India doesn’t receive financial
aid and said the proposed increase, which the Tuition Review Committee
will begin debating today, will negatively affect him.
Although his parents pay for his tuition, he said, the hikes will
make it difficult for them to come up with the funds.
Chatterjee, who attended the Student Congress forum on tuition increases
Wednesday, suggested implementing an increase in the fall so that
students would have time to budget for the year.
“The timing is bad,” he said. “Do it gradually
or give us some time. I would really like that.”
Administrators proposed a $15-per-credit-hour increase for the spring
and a $20-per-credit-hour increase in the fall. Nursing and engineering
students would pay more for upper-level and graduate courses in
those areas. The Tuition Review Committee will pass its recommendation
to the interim President Charles Sorber, who must report to the
UT System Chancellor by Nov. 1.
About 100 students, including several other worried international
students, attended the second forum on tuition held this week. Senators
and a handful of students spoke at the first one on Tuesday.
Some international students said they are worried about the paying
for the spring increase because they cannot receive any of the 20
percent of revenue generated by the increases that must be set aside
for financial aid — a total of about $4.5 million.
“How do we expect them to fork up this increase?” Chatterjee
said.
In-state students who don’t receive financial aid are asking
the same question.
Stephen Friese, a mechanical engineering junior at the forum, said
he has paid for his tuition with loans during the past three years.
Friese said the tuition increase will directly affect students who
aren’t eligible to receive financial aid.
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| The Shorthorn: Mark Roberts |
| Stephen Friese, a mechanical engineering
junior, says how tuition increases will affect him. “I’m
barely getting by,” he said to the crowd. “With
the tuition rate, I won’t be able to make it. I’m
going to have to take out more loans.” |
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“We’re paying more so the financial
aid students don’t have to go in debt, but we do,” he
said.
Friese said he receives a check from his job in the Navy but that
it pays for bills such as rent and his vehicle — not tuition
raises.
“I’m barely getting by,” he said. “With
the [proposed] tuition rate, I won’t be able to make it. I’m
going to have to take out more loans.”
Some students at the forum said they want to know more specifically
how administrators play to use the revenue generated.
Denis Gjoni, a computer science and engineering junior, said he’s
looked through a copy of the presentation administrators submitted
to the Tuition Review Committee and that he wants more details on
how the money generated would be used.
“We don’t have enough numbers,” he said. The presentation
packet “is very vague.”
SC provided handouts Wednesday explaining the proposed tuition increases.
It also listed the approximate $4.5 million set aside for financial
aid, $3 million for new faculty and $1.5 million for new faculty
start-up funds.
Tabitha Padilla, political science senior and congress vice president,
said she and other liberal arts students think they won’t
receive a fair share from the increases. She said she wants to know
if the College of Liberal Arts will see improvements in student-to-instructor
ratios and facilities.
“What are we paying for?” she said. “We’re
not going to pay for [just engineering and nursing] students to
have new faculty and staff. We will pay for this if we see benefits.”
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Tuition
Data Bank
For more information about the tuition increase, visit
the Data
Bank.
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