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Panel looks at state tuition challenges

Jobs aren't key to coping with increasing college costs, UH law professor Olivas says

by Geronimo Rodriguez
Senior Staff Writer

Despite increasing college tuition, the key to closing gaps among communities is still to urge future generations to earn a college degree, Don Brown, commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, said Monday during a panel discussion moderated by state Rep. Scott Hochberg and state Sen. Rodney Ellis.

While the Coordinating Board's job to close those gaps just got more difficult with the college tuition hikes across Texas, UH law professor Michael Olivas said students should be closing their wallets to deal with tuition deregulation.


"If you live like a lawyer when you're a law student, you'll be living like a law student when you're a lawyer," Olivas told about 30 people who attended the forum at Collins Elementary School in southwest Houston.

Olivas said college tuition should have been increased years ago, and the Texas Legislature is just making up for it now.

"You can't outrun arithmetic," he said.

Olivas also said students should not take jobs, which may keep them from graduating on time; instead, they should reap the benefits of financial aid.

"Many scholarships go unclaimed because students don't try to get them," Olivas said. "Students also shouldn't be afraid to borrow money to go to college. It's the best investment you'll ever make.

"Your job isn't to work; your job is to go to school," he said.

Student Government Association President Jon Quintanilla disagreed, saying students with jobs are the cornerstone of the University.

"If we think like that, then we're not crediting today's students for what they have to go through to graduate," Quintanilla said. "UH is unique in that aspect."

Quintanilla, who took office April 1, said he plans to hold a forum on campus focusing on tuition deregulation in hopes of receiving feedback from students. He said he is also interested in exploring what Texas officials are doing to help students in regard to financial aid.

As far as Robert Sheridan, executive director of Scholarships and Financial Aid at UH, is concerned, officials aren't doing much -- especially considering that deregulated tuition will hit its stride this fall.

UH students have seen a decrease in initial year grants in the past three years because of reduced funding by the state, Sheridan said.

"Three years ago, 1,446 initial year grants were given to students," Sheridan said. "(Two hundred and twenty-one initial year grants) offered in the fall is just a drop in the bucket."
 

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