Posted on 02/18/2003 5:37:55 AM PST by Theodore R.
Tech plan calls for increase in tuition, fees By SEBASTIAN KITCHEN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
The average Texas Tech student will pay $400 more a semester if the Board of Regents passes tuition and fee increases suggested by the administration.
The 19 percent overall increase in tuition and fees is proposed to offset a reduction in funding that stems from the state's $9.9 billion budget shortfall, said Cindy Rugeley, vice chancellor for news and information.
Regents will consider the increase Feb. 27.
The largest jump would be in fees.
Currently, fees are subsidized by state funds. Those state funds would be removed from fee subsidization "to make sure there are classes and faculty available for students so they can get a degree in the time they want to," Rugeley said.
New fees will be set to maintain the current level of services, she said.
"We want to maintain the same level or an even better level of service to our students," said Michael Shonrock, vice president for student affairs.
Students will not notice a negative change in services, Shonrock said.
The increases are in re sponse to the escalating cost of higher education combined with a drop in state formula funding, he said.
In a related matter, about 5,000 students in Texas will be deprived of once-promised free college tuition because of state cuts, The Associated Press reported Monday.
Texas Higher Education Commissioner Don Brown told members of the House Appro priations Committee that budget cuts mean the Texas Grant scholarship program will not be able to provide aid to all of the estimated 80,000 students who will be eligible in 2004-05.
The committee also heard from community colleges officials who said the required $197 million in budget slashing will mean fewer classes, layoffs and an inability to educate a growing number of students.
Cutting funding to higher education will hurt the state's goal of making college accessible and affordable for all Texans, said Rey Garcia, executive director of the Texas Association of Community Colleges.
"There is no better way to get people into the door than to have low tuition at our institutions," Garcia said.
At Tech, Shonrock said some facilities, such as the Student Recreation Center and Student Union, which have been expanded or are undergoing expansion, require more money for such things as utilities and maintenance.
The largest proposed in creases are in the information technology fee and the library fee. For students taking 15 hours, the library fee would increase $150 and the technology fee $60 per semester.
A proposed new student business services fee would charge $7 an hour.
Tech is more than a regional institution, and there is a cost associated with national and international recognition, Shonrock said.
Even with the increasing cost of achieving a degree, higher education remains a bargain, Rugeley said.
"Higher education is a great bargain when you look at what a college degree adds to your lifelong earnings," she said. "If we can change higher ed so students are able to complete their degree plan as quick as possible, it does reduce the cost of pursuing a college degree."
Interim Tech President Donald Haragan and others want to decrease the average time to graduate. Although Tech's programs are structured for students to graduate in four years, the average time is more than five and a half years.
Tech officials estimate that an average student will save $30,000 a semester in education costs, lost wages and other factors if they graduate sooner.
The financial movements are also being made to maintain course offerings and services in summer school, Ruge ley said.
"The university could have sat back and said this thing is going to be a crisis, but we are going to look at this, make this work within our academic mission, define what we are all about, what we need to do better, and how we are going to deal with the budget crisis," Rugeley said.
skitchen@lubbockonline.com 766-8753
So this is where the Enron accountants went.
Free college? It's not free ---they're robbing me to pay for these parasites' free college ----let them get jobs and work their way through college like so many others do. If you want something bad enough, you'll work for it yourself.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.