NEWS | NOVEMBER 22, 2005

Tuition and Fees
Flat rate proposed for tuition
According to the plan, fees will already be included for the 2006-07 academic year.

The Shorthorn: Manikandan Sachidanandan Provost Dana Dunn, center, speaks while John Hall, vice president for finance and administration, and Student Congress President Josh Sawyer listen Friday in the Student Congress Chambers in the University Center.

By C J Patton
The Shorthorn staff

Provost Dana Dunn presented the administration’s proposal for tuition changes Friday before the Tuition Review Committee, outlining a plan to shift to a flat-rate system.

Under the current tuition system, students are charged per credit hour, and additional fees are added afterward. The proposed plan calls for a breakdown of tuition with fees already included.

“One of the real advantages of this kind of model is that it is a simplification of the existing charge structure,” she said. “You know what it’s going to cost to take x number of hours.”

Under the flat-rate system, all mandatory fees, including student life, library and computing fees, are already taken into account with the initial tuition charge. A select few fees, such as field trip, private instruction and distance education fees, would still be additional.

The proposed rate decreases as more hours are taken, giving an added incentive to take more hours each semester, she said. According to the proposal, tuition rates would be capped, charging the same amount for taking 14-18 hours.

“At 14 hours and beyond, it’s very beneficial for the students,” she said.

Dunn said the primary motivation for this move is to further the university’s push toward a standard, four year graduation for most students. This model is supported by the UT System Board of Regents, and she said the flat-rate proposal will go a long way toward achieving this goal.

“My sense from the review of tuition proposals is that they do favor a flat-rate tuition proposal,” she said.

Dunn said a small increase to overall tuition will be included in the tuition-calculation shift to offset the costs of university progress.

“I firmly believe that the university needs the revenue, and I think that this is a fair tuition proposal,” she said. “There will be an increase, but it will be a fair increase.”

Among other incentives, the proposal calls for increasing to the annual rebate to $250 for students taking 30 hours in the fall and spring semesters while maintaining a 2.25 grade point average or higher, and for continuing the $3-per-credit hour rebate for full payment of tuition by the due date. These, she said, will help balance out the overall increase in tuition rates.

Architecture seniors Josh Sawyer, Student Congress President; and Megan Rorie, Joint Constituency Council of Architecture president, voiced concerns that a 15-hour semester is difficult for architecture majors, whose schedules generally consist of three-hour classes and one five-hour studio.

“For that five-hour class, we actually spend between 40 and 100 hours a week working on it,” she said. “In order for us to take 15 hours, we’d have to take 17 hours, which pretty much guarantees you a nervous breakdown.”

Additional questions arose as to whether a 30-hour year is feasible for engineering students, or whether special cases would be taken into account.

Dunn said she would take these matters into consideration but doesn’t think the objections are marks against the proposed plan.

“It’s not possible to devise a system that takes into account every scenario possible,” she said.

The committee will continue to discuss the proposed plan and will send its recommendation to President James Spaniolo no later than Dec. 2. Spaniolo will pass the proposal on to UT System Chancellor Mark Yudof, who will then present it to be voted on by the UT System Board of Regents in February.

Dunn said that if passed, the additional tuition revenue will fund a number of projects including an additional $500,000 for merit-based scholarships, additional money that would bring available financial aid to nearly $9 million and an increase to both campus security and faculty.

“I anticipate that, if this passes, I will be able to add 15 additional faculty,” she said.

Despite the shift in tuition calculation and the overall increase to tuition charges, Dunn said students would still get an excellent price on their education compared to other similar institutions.

“If you look at where our tuition is this year, we’re lower than the majority,” she said. “I think that we’ll still be a bargain compared to our peers.”

CORRECTION

The information in the sidebar graphic titled “Tuition Breakdown” that accompanied this story was provided by the Office of the Provost.

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