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Bill to boost tuition gets toned down by Senate

New plan would put ceiling on hikes

By Nikie Johnson
Senior Staff Writer

Students worried that universities would be given the power to raise tuition drastically were given a ray of hope: the Texas Senate.

A Senate bill that would have allowed state universities to essentially double tuition was drastically changed Tuesday. Under the new version of the bill, universities could only charge up to $12 more per semester credit hour for the next two years.

However, significant tuition hikes may still be around the corner. The Senate bill also calls for the Legislature to conduct a study of the effects higher tuition and fees would have on students and universities. In two years, lawmakers would revisit the issue and decide whether to give universities more flexibility in setting their tuition.

The Senate Education Committee held a public hearing on the bill Tuesday night, at which the new version was presented. Many students from the University of Texas and UT-San Antonio were there to oppose the original bill and, despite the changes, most continue to oppose it because it still poses the threat of tuition deregulation.

When introducing the bill, its author, Sen. Florence Shapiro, said the public is making greater demands of colleges and universities and talked about the difficulty the state is having ­ this year especially ­ in paying for that demand.

"We cannot continue to ask these institutions to comply with our ever-increasing standards of academic excellence without allowing them access to the resources necessary to achieve these goals," she said.

Most of the stateis major universities have been asking the Legislature, which sets tuition, to give them more flexibility so they can raise more money. The original bill, which UH officials strongly supported, would have helped these universities but had many people worried about students.

"I felt that it was not fair at this moment in time to just unleash the tuition (increase) because we havenit done very many studies," Shapiro said. "We havenit really analyzed it. We havenit really looked at the fees."

She said she only filed the original bill as a "place holder," and had always intended this new version to be the tuition bill considered by the Senate. All bills have to be filed by a certain day each session but can be amended at any time.

Grover Campbell, UHis vice president of governmental relations, said Wednesday that he was not too surprised the bill was changed.

"We fully expected that whatever was introduced was not going to be the final version," he said.

Although UH supported the original version, which would have meant much more money for the University, Campbell said he was not disappointed with the new version.

"Weill make the best with the tools made available," he said.

In addition to increasing the amount of tuition universities can charge and creating a process to review the effects of tuition flexibility, the bill has two other provisions.

One would set between 15 and 20 percent of each universityis increased revenue aside for work-study programs and interest-free student loans. The other would allow universities what Shapiro called "vertical flexibility."

Currently, universities must charge the same amount of tuition for all classes. With vertical flexibility, though, they would be able to charge different amounts for different sections.

The intent, Shapiro said was to encourage students to take classes during low-demand times ­ mornings, nights, Saturdays ­ or from certain departments by lowering tuition for those sections. Thus, if UH wanted to encourage students to take engineering classes or entice business students away from another university, it could lower tuition for those classes to make them more appealing.

Many students at the hearing disliked this idea, claiming it would penalize students who canit take classes at non-traditional times. Shapiro disagreed with them, saying the idea was to help students who take classes then, not to hurt students who take classes at normal times.

The bill remained in committee for further discussion.
 

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